Radioactive
by Rexcaliburr
Summary: Magic isn't something you come across often. And only a few can recognize it when they see it. And even fewer can harness that power. Terri, a suddenly-hired mercenary stepping in as the Huntress, is one of those few. But she needs to learn how to control her power with the help of an enemy who has a similar gift. NOTE: Read the sequel, Botkiller after this!
1. Packing up and leaving home

"You are 21 and don't have a boyfriend or a job. My goodness, Terri. You really need to get up and going. I can't keep supporting you at this rate, just look at you!" Shirley cried as she passed her daughter Terri, who was lazing on the couch, fiddling with the tip of an arrow she had retrieved from her satchel of arrows that usually hung across a coatrack sitting by the door, next to her bow mounted on the wall. Shirley's arms had a whole bunch of clothes that had just come out of the dryer, and she had gladly dumped the pile on her daughter.

"I can't find a job, kay? Nothing I've seen actually interests me, Mom," Terri whined as she shifted herself under the pile of clothes. Shirley sighed. "That's because ya haven't actually tried to find a job, Terri. You're always in the house, or shooting arrows in the outback. Your dad wants you to get a job by the end of this year, Terri. We can't keep supporting you."

Sighing, Terri tossed the clothes off her, grabbing the whole pile and bringing it to her parents' bedroom where she tossed the pile onto the bed and began folding the clothes. "I just can't get a job which suits me. I don't see myself working in shops or anything," Terri mumbled begrudgingly as her Mom joined her in the room to fold clothes. "There where," Shirley asked, "where do you see yourself?"

In the outback. Shooting arrows. Hunting game. That's exactly where she saw herself. In the outback, under the sweltering heat, with her bow in hand and an arrow drawn, tracking big game like crocodiles. Her cousin Lawrence had gotten a job as a mercenary. He got to shoot thing daily. He was getting ridiculously high pay for it too. He actually liked his job. Why couldn't she get the same job?

It was completely unfair, to say the least. She was of the same caliber when it came to tracking game. Was it because she was a girl? Or maybe because she used the bow and arrow instead of a sniper rifle? Was that it? Because she could use a sniper rifle as well as a bow and arrow. She just preferred using a more… classic style. It could have been called primitive, but that was just insulting.

By the time Terri had snapped out of her daydream, her mom had already folded all the clothes and left the room, leaving her standing there holding her warm shirt and unsure of what to do.

"Hey Snipes!" Scout greeted, barging into the Australian's room without so much as a knock. The sharpshooter turned his head with a grumble as his eyes met the Bostonian's. Sighing, he turned back to his rifle, cleaning off the dirt on the barrel that had accumulated over the course of the day's battle, of which both teams were recovering from. RED had dominated the BLUs, although they had proven tougher than before.

"Wot ya want, mongrel?" Sniper asked as the Scout peered over Sniper's shoulder to see what he was doing. "Just came in here to call ya out to one of Soldier's 'strategy meetings'. 'Pparently Spy has noticed something odd." Sniper rolled his eyes. Strategy meetings weren't so much as planning out strategies for the next round, or learning how to improve. They were more of Soldier screaming at them all about their lousy performance, even though they had dominated over the BLUs.

He sighed. "'Kay, Oi'll be there in a minute," he said, shooing the Scout out of his room. "And next time, try something called 'knocking'." With the annoying and loud Scout gone, he polished his rifle one more time before leaving it in his room, sitting on his bed, before taking his hat and leaving the room, closing and locking the door behind him, shoving the key in his pocket.

"Gentlemen," Spy greeted as Sniper settled in his usual chair in the meeting room. Now with all the team members, he could finally start. "As I'm quite certain you've all noticed, the BLU team was a lot more difficult than usual, with arrows flying out at us when their Sniper was not using a Huntsman bow," he began, only to get interrupted by Soldier, who slammed his hands on the table. "That's right, pansies! You all performed terribly! You call yourself fighters?!" he shouted, only to get turned to the wall by Heavy, so he was yelling at the wall instead of at them. His voice was no softer, but at least everyone's attention returned to Spy.

"And I have found out the reason why. The BLUs, being the sneaky creatures they are, have secretly hired a new teammate. And worse of all, it's a girl," he drawled. Scout instantly looked interested at the idea of a girl, someone he could hang out with. Demo looked shocked, Medic indifferent, Sniper doubtful. "Ya sure it's a shiela?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Spy could see the doubt in his eyes, hidden by aviators.

"Yes, Sniper, I am quite sure. She has stayed hidden most of the round, although she proves to have extreme accuracy. I think, if the BLUs can hire someone else to fight with them, why can't we? Ze Admin 'as not said anything about it, and it looks to me she's been here fairly long," Spy said, eyeing his teammates.

"Wait, so you're saying the BLUs hired a girl? To fight for them?" Engineer asked, leaning forward a bit. Spy nodded, as he pulled his cigarette from his lips to speak. "Oui, that is exactly what I'm saying."

Sniper already had one thing on his mind. He would speak to Ms Pauling about this, then get someone he knew on their side too.

"Oi, Truckie!" Sniper called later that evening as Engineer passed him on the way to the kitchen to get himself something to eat. The Texan turned, offering a smile to the Sniper. "How can I help ya, Slim?"

"Oi want ya ta follow me. Gotta speak ta Ms Pauling about something, Oi'm gonna need someone ta back me up 'ere," Sniper said, unsure of any other way to put it. Engineer tilted his head. "Okay, but ya mind tellin' me what this is all about?" Engineer asked as he followed Sniper to the phone.

"You'll know later. But Oi swear, yer gonna like it," Sniper said with a small smile. Well, there was someone else who'd like it more, but only it things worked out. He picked up the phone, hearing a little click before keying in the number that linked to Ms Pauling.

"Hello?" A female voice on the other end said, silently asking for the caller to identify himself. "Ms Pauling, gotta speak ta ya," Sniper said in a slightly hurried manner. He was never comfortable with talking to Ms Pauling, always made him feel like the Administrator was watching him closely.

"What is it, Sniper?" Ms Pauling asked, sounding slightly worried, like as if she was expecting something bad to have happened to the team. "Okay, so ya probably know the BLUs sorta hired a team member fer themselves…" he began. Ms Pauling replied with an 'mm hmm' sound. "And Oi was wondering if… we could hire someone ourselves? It ain't very fair ta us fer them ta have ten members on their team and fer us ta only have nine," he said. Surprisingly, that was had been pretty easy!

There had been a long pause on Ms Pauling's end, then she sighed. "I'll talk to Admin about it. No promises," she said. Sniper exhaled. At least there was a chance. "Okay. Okay," he said. Another long pause. "Is there anyone specific you'd like to join the ranks?" she asked. "I could speak to Admin about your suggestion," she offered.

Engie glanced at Sniper while idly twiddling his thumbs. "My cousin."

Three days later, the BLUs had proven to have become better with their new teammate. Ms Pauling hadn't gotten back to Sniper yet, but there had been rumors about Admin 'making a change to the team'. It could have been good or bad, depending how you saw it. Sniper could have been fired for suggesting it, or maybe they really were getting a tenth class. And back in Australia, someone was packing up and leaving home.

It had been a long flight, but Terri was happy to be here. She had generally been in a really good mood after receiving the letter from the TF Industries, which was exactly where her cousin worked. She had been asked to fly down to New Mexico, and that someone would be there to pick her up when she landed.

Checkout hadn't taken long, Terri slipping by most things in a breeze. The only thing that had kept her waiting was her luggage, which had taken forever to come. But she had sprinted off once she had her things. New Mexico was beautiful, and she was greeted by a rather small lady in a purple shirt, her hair bunned up neatly and her glasses looking very good on her. "Terri Wither?" she asked, approaching the Aussie. Terri nodded, suddenly feeling incredibly messy in comparison to this lady.

She led Terri to her car, a simple sedan painted red by the roadside. She helped Terri shove her things into the car before getting into the driver's seat. "I'm Ms Pauling, secretary for the TF Industries," she introduced, offering a hand. Terri shook it before settling back into her seat. "Terri Wither." "I know, you were suggested by one of the mercenaries," Ms Pauling said as she began driving. Suggested? "By who?" Terri asked, curious to know. But instead of giving an answer, Ms Pauling shook her head. "I'm not allowed to say. I think you do know who though," she said simply. Her cousin.

All throughout the drive, Ms Pauling briefed her on her job description, passed her some folders with information on her teammates, informed her of the rules about interacting with the opposite team in a friendly way and about respawn. "So basically, death isn't real here. You don't really die. You can't." Terri smiled. "Sounds awesome," she said, staring at the picture of her cousin in his folder.

"So, to run through things again, I'm a RED Huntress, I'm not allowed to be friends with the BLU team, I can't really die and I'm not allowed to use my weapons during ceasefire, right?" Terri asked. She wanted to make sure. Ms Pauling nodded, as she pulled up to Teufort. "Correct." She let Terri step out of the car and take in the full view of the two separate forts, one painted red and one painted blue. "I think you can manage your way around here," Ms Pauling said, before she turned her car round and drove off. Terri stepped into the fort, unsure of where to go. She ventured into the red fort, to be greeted with a large man in a white coat. "Oh! Uh… hi. I'm not exactly sure where to go so…" Terri trailed off awkwardly. The man scrutinized her, then turned, shouting, "Herr Sniper! Ze tenth class is here!" Instantly two other guys came barreling down the stairs, eager to meet her. One was her cousin, looking amazing in a red shirt and his vest, aviators and hat, and the other was a slightly younger man with a smug look on his face and two dog tags strung round his neck and a cap with a one sided ear piece and microphone.

Instantly Terri had noticed the look on the younger man's face, one that told her he was _completely_ interested in her and was admiring her figure all over and directed her attention to her cousin, who embraced her in a hug. "Nice ta see ya again, shiela," he said. While Terri hugged Sniper back, she noticed someone coming down the stairs, a fairly tall man in a sharp red suit with a matching mask and a cigarette dangling off the corner of his mouth, the smoke snaking into the air. In his fingers he twirled a butterfly knife with expertise, just making him so much more attractive. He had this air of confidence and suave as he came down the stairs one by one, unlike her cousin had. Sniper broke apart from Terri as he approached the group. He had clearly noticed Terri and had taken an interest in her, his sharp eyes taking her in as a whole and basically just looking right into her. Sniper stepped aside as he came up to her, flicking his butterfly knife shut and tucking it in his suit.

Gently, he took her hand in his and raised it to his lips, kissing the back of her palm gently, making Terri blush. "_Bonjour, madame,_" he greeted. Oh good Lord, he was French. "So I see you 'ave met the monstrosity that is your new teammates. Apologies for their crudeness," he said, glaring at Scout who was now drooling over her. Terri, now known as the Huntress, smiled. "Don't worry, I get that a lot back in Australia," she said. The Frenchman raised his eyebrows. "Australia? By any chance are you related to this 'ere bushman?"

Sniper obviously scowled at the nickname, but Terri merely offered a small smile. "I'm his cousin." The drooling fool, known as the Scout, shook his head. "Cousin?!" The new Huntress nodded. "Yeah…" The masked man glanced at Sniper. "It's hard to believe you are related to this bushman. Come, let me take you to see the other members," he said, slinging her off with Sniper chasing them.

"I am ze Spy, and I must say, madame, you are simply beautiful," Spy said as he led her up the stairs to the fort. Terri blushed again, looking away as her cheeks turned hot. "Thank you," she giggled, trying to force her voice back to normal with a cough. "You 'ave already met ze Sniper, the drooling fool Scout, and our Medic. Don't let 'im take any organs from you, 'e does that sometimes."

An hour later and Terri had gotten to know all the teammates and seen the entire fort. She had already dumped her stuff in her bedroom, which wasn't too fantastic but good enough for her. Tomorrow would be her first day of work, where she finally got out on the field and actually did what she enjoyed.

Spy had disappeared by then, but little did Terri know that as she scribbled down the day's events in a notebook, he was standing over her shoulder all along, his sharp, icy eyes following the pen.


	2. Flight to New Mexico

**A/N. Thanks to Derwen on DeviantArt for giving me permission to use her wonderful OC, Horst Dieter-Albach the BLU Medic! I had no say in the development of him and I don't own him at all. Go check Derwen out if you like Horst! (You should check Derwen out anyway.)**

**I don't own TF2 or any part of it, except my OC Terri.**

**Onwards with the story! **

So it was settled. The Huntress was a class now, though only temporary till the Admin figured out what to do with BLU for secretly hiring someone. Actually, she had known all along, but had decided to keep shut about it and see what RED would do in retaliation, being the brutes they were.

She had initially expected RED to scale a full-out attack on BLU to show who's boss around Teufort, but she wasn't too surprised when Ms Pauling had reported with a recording of Sniper's conversation over the phone with her.

"Interesting move," the Admin had said, twirling a cigarette in her fingers the same way Spy loved to twirl his butterfly knife when he was bored, nervous, anxious or excited. Except Admin was void of any of those emotions. Just slight curiousity and interest in the RED's choice of movement.

She wasn't too happy about having to have to hire another team member and pay her, but she wanted to see how RED would work with their new teammate, and if all went well, she'd keep her. So at Sniper's recommendation, she had searched up his cousin, easily finding her exact location in Melbourne, Australia, and kept an eye on her for the next two days, studying her movements, patterns and habits, both physical and social. The girl hadn't proven the best, but amazing enough for Admin to have sent a letter down to her, requesting that she fly up to New Mexico for the job.

And now that the girl was here, it was time for her to study how she worked here on the job. The BLU Huntress was secretive, stealthy, and vicious. Terri looked, less so. A bit gentler, social, but she looked like the kind of person who was stubborn, hard headed and potentially dangerous if angered.

So now one camera screen was permanently locked on Terri and another on the BLU Huntress, as the Admin swivelled in her seat, cracking her knuckles before picking up the microphone.

"Mission begins in sixty seconds," the Admin's voice hissed over the loudspeakers on both sides of the fort. The team was in their Resupply/Respawn room, stretching, cracking knuckles, wrists, spines, anything to shake the stiffness out of them, really. Terri was in her new uniform, looking rather similar to her cousin's except that she didn't don the hat, and her shirt was tailored to fit a supermodel's cutting. Which suited her fine, actually.

Experimentally, she drew an arrow, pointing it at nothing in particular, feeling the elasticity of the string, then releasing the tension in the string. She didn't fire the arrow, but didn't keep the arrow back in the satchel strung across her back. She felt… nervous? Tense? Excited? …Scared? She wasn't too sure what she felt. Probably a huge mix of all, but all in all she felt oddly calm.

"Mission begins in thirty seconds."

As a little encouragement, Sniper placed his hand on the Huntress's shoulder. "You'll be alright out there," he said, offering a small smile. Terri returned the smile, as the Demo nodded to her and the Pyro gave her a thumbs up. Heavy joined the encouragement party. "Leetle girl be alright. Heavy knows," he said, "and later, we eat sandvich to celebrate."

Over in the BLU base, their team was hyped up, ready to go. The Sniper twisted his neck, enjoying the crack. "We're gonna wipe the floor with their asses this time," the BLU Scout snarled, glaring at the Huntress. "Ya better do a good job, girly!"

The whole team was snarling and growling and muttering curses at the REDs, except for one. He simply stood there, scrutinizing his teammates with an icy cold stare. _Dummkopfs, _he thought. _The REDs won't be stupid enough as to not have noticed random arrows flying. They probably have a new tactic already._

The BLU Medic, or Horst, was generally a calm person. His tempered didn't flare very easily; he could remain calm for quite a long time. But right now his teammates were being such idiots for not realizing that the REDs would already have realized something was up. He sighed. Whatever. Let his teammates run out and get killed. They were practically asking for it.

"Mission begins in ten seconds."

Terri's grip on her bow tightened. Her knuckles were white, and in her burned a deep concentration peppered with a bit of fear. She was told dying wasn't real. But she was quite scared to find out what dying and resurrection was like. She shook the thought from her head. No time to think of it now.

"Five."

Horst glanced down at his Medigun, the thing that amplified his gift of healing he honed. Trust worthy, effective, but not the source of the ever-so-important healing rays.

"Four."

Terri was glancing from teammate to teammate, looking at the bored and smug expressions on their faces.

"Three."

Horst began to charge up his Medigun on the Heavy.

"Two."

Terri locked her eyes on the shutter.

"One."

Horst fixed his eyes on the Heavy.

"Begin!"

Both teams burst out of their Respawn rooms, charging out into the field. Everyone seemed to fall into places, Sniper on the ledge, Heavy and Medic down on the bridge charging up, Spy goodness knows where, Scout running off to get the intelligence.

Terri felt a certain thrill. This wasn't like hunting game. They knew she was there. So it was an all out offensive, like a provoked crocodile, ready to strike at any moment. She had to make her move and fast. With one quick sweep, she drew an arrow, pulled it back and fired, snarling when she missed the Soldier by a bit. Now alert to her presence, the Soldier turned his rocket launcher towards her, firing one projectile at her.

Perks of the lack of a scope? You could see more. The Huntress had seen the rocket hurtling straight at her and leaped aside, the rocket hitting the wall where her head had once been. The explosion still knocked her off her feet, but it hadn't done any damage. With a snarl, she turned, headed down the stairs and into the sewers. Maybe she'd have some luck there.

The REDs had won once again, although this time only by a single point. The only reason why they had managed to win again was because Scout had managed to grab the intelligence and sprint back to the RED base, although he had gotten caught by the Heavy and only managed to get back to the intelligence room before passing out. The briefcase had lain there, waiting, till Engie grabbed it and flung it into the capture zone just in the last three seconds of the round.

"Maggots!" Soldier yelled as the team dragged themselves back to their base, tired and worn out. Sniper had his arm around Terri, talking to her about how first days don't usually go so well and she'd get better and more used to things with time. Her first death had come at the hands of a Demo and his grenades; she hadn't been able to fling herself aside before the grenade exploded. Her second death on the field had been from the Spy, backstabbing her and disappearing again.

But her first kill was marvellous. Caught right in the chest, she had pinned the opposing Sniper to a wall. It was hilarious, to see the corpse hanging there. She had also hacked their Engineer to death with her knife, stabbing him over and over again. She had also managed to cripple their Medic, although he had sent her to Respawn with a bonesaw ripped through her chest.

"Don't worry, you'll get 'im next time," Sniper said as Terri trudged back. She wasn't disappointed with her performance. It hadn't been perfect, but it wasn't horrible either. She could do a lot of touching up, but it was good enough for her for her first day.

She had gone to Medic for a bit of healing before tossing off her uniform and slipping into something simpler. Rules were, she had to wear something red or anything in a shade of red when not in uniform, but that was fine with her. She had plenty of red clothes with her. She got into a simple red shirt with some black scribblings on the front, and with that, she took off for dinner with the team.

Dinner had been pretty good, Engineer cooking up steaks and ribs for everyone, coupled with Russian vodka. Terri didn't drink anything too strong, so she had passed on the vodka and instead went outside for a walk with Spy, both of them leaving the loud, celebrating fort behind and opting for a quieter evening.


	3. Magic doesn't just happen

**A/N. I have so much inspiration to write! (Perks of writing down your entire plot, it's so much easier to churn out chapters!)**

**Horst (BLU Medic)(OC) belongs to Derwen on DeviantArt**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri (RED Huntress/FemSniper)(OC) belongs to me**

**Ooooon to the stoooooryyyyy.**

With the evening always came a gentle breeze, blowing away the last heat of battle as the adrenaline faded from the mercenaries' blood and people settled down for the night. Few actually came out to the battleground after the final battle for the day was over, leaving the area quiet and peaceful; say for the few fading bloodstains on the walls and floor.

Spy had led Terri out, back into the field where she was just wrestling with the BLU Medic a couple hours ago. She recalled the scene clearly. She was actually aiming for the Pyro further inside the base and he had taken advantage of her being distracted. The Heavy was still respawning and he figured he'd take the chance at an easy kill, seeing as she was new and probably didn't know his fighting style and so couldn't adapt to fight back efficiently.

So he had rushed her with the Bonesaw. She hadn't noticed till he got a little too close for comfort, leaping back and releasing her arrow. It had missed, sticking itself into the wall behind the Medic instead of somewhere in his body, where she would have liked it to land.

Without anywhere to run (he could very obviously outrun her), Terri had pulled out her kukri, letting the killing instinct take over her as she wildly slashed out at him, hoping she could land a blow. The knife had nicked him, drawing blood from his left arm, making him hiss irritably and simply lunge for her, wanting to get the kill before he had to go and get Heavy charged up.

The Bonesaw ripped through her chest, slowing down her actions a lot. She dropped the knife to the floor as blood blossomed around her chest where the Bonesaw had torn through. She had dropped to her knees, her vision beginning to get dark. The Medic stood before her, eyeing her, and with one swipe, cut her head clean off.

But all that was the past. Now, she stood by the faded bloodstain on the floor. "Huh," she said, sitting by the bridge with Spy. The evening sky was painted bright blue, fading slowly to a mix of sweet pink and calm orange and purple, then darkening into a deep, ocean blue. It was gorgeous.

"How'd I do on the field today?" Terri asked, swinging her legs over the side of the bridge, staring down at the water as Spy looked up at the darkening sky. "Pardon?" Spy asked, swinging his crystal eyes down to look at her. "How'd I do? On the field, I mean," Terri repeated, staring down at her reflection in the murky waters below.

To be honest, he hadn't really been paying attention. Granted, he had just watched her once or twice but he hadn't really taken a look at her. "Good enough for a first day," he answered, shrugging. Beside him, Terri twirled her knife. It slipped from her fingers, splashing into the water below. "Dammit," she hissed. How embarrassing. "I'll go get it," she said, leaping off the bridge into the water.

She splashed into the water below, her aviators slipping off. Dammit, she should have left them with Spy. At least her crocodile tooth necklace couldn't float away, just drifting in front of her, bobbing on the string. She lurched forward, grabbing her aviators and keeping them in one hand. Taking a deep breath, she dove down into the water in search for her knife.

It was lying on the waterbed, waiting for someone to retrieve it. With a push, she swam towards it, grabbing the hilt and returning to the surface. Spy stared down at her from the bridge top, obviously not wanting to get his suit wet. "Found it!" she cried triumphantly. The Spy smiled.

"See you back at ze base, _mon lapin,_" he said. There was no other way to return to the surface except for the sewers. Oh well. "Okay," she called back, making her way to the giant pipe that led back up to the base. Terri hadn't noticed she had walked into the wrong sewer till she slipped on something, splatting in a puddle of goo. "Ew…" she cursed, "the fuck is this?"

The goo was sticky, and it smelled foul. It wasn't acid, she had decided. It didn't burn her skin. The only thing to do was to wash it off. She noticed something. The walls of the pipe were tinted blue. "Shit," she hissed, quickly turning and scrambling back into the water, swimming over to her own base pipe. Just a bit of the goo remained in her hair, as she wiped the slime off. "This is so fucking gross. No wonder they hate BLU," she muttered, splashing her hands in the water to get rid of the last traces of the slime as she headed back up the steps and to her room.

"Wot- why the hell is yer hair wet?" Sniper asked as Terri scampered past him, instinctively swiping her wet hair behind her. "I uh… fell into the sewers," she mumbled, scrambling into her room. She could hear Sniper grunt, then his footsteps faded in the distance behind her door.

She paused for a moment behind the door, then stopped leaning against it, reaching out for a towel to dry her hair with. Her hands felt a little warmer than usual. Nothing to worry about, it was probably all the blood suddenly rushing to her hands.

She reached for the towel, about to run it through her damp hair. She stopped, realizing something. Her hair was wet with sewer water. And God knows what fell in there. Corpses, blood, bits of blown up people… she swung her room door open again and headed for the bathroom.

As she grabbed the door handle to the bathroom, something started sizzling. "What the-" she said as she released the handle. She took a step back, staring at it. Or, staring at whatever was left of a handle. The metal had corroded away, leaving a large dent the shape of a hand that had just grabbed it. "The fuck-" she stared down at her hand. Impossible, magic didn't just happen like that. But there the evidence was, right before her eyes.

She was hallucinating. That had to be it. There wasn't any other logical explanation, and Terri was a pretty logical person. She grabbed the handle again, swinging open the door. The sizzle happened again, and she quickly let go, kicking the door shut with her foot.

Inside the bathroom, she stripped off, letting the warm water soak her. As her fingers lightly touched the tap, it sizzled again, leaving a mark where it had been corroded quickly. She shook her head, taking a step away. "Okay what the hell, this ain't funny," she hissed, eyes wide.

Not possible. She couldn't corrode things with her hands. It didn't make sense. Not in this world of Science. But she knew it was happening. She closed her eyes, dousing herself with hot water and hoping to wash away the craziness. Maybe this was some huge joke Scout was pulling on everyone, yeah. It had to be.

On the opposite side of the fort, the BLUs were also preparing for bed. Scout had disappeared to his room, Demo was drinking himself to sleep, Sniper had gone back out to his camper, Spy invisible, and Horst had locked himself in his Infirmary.

That girl, that new girl. She was odd. Not odd in a bad way, but she had a pretty unique fighting style, and something about her told him she was going to get herself in trouble sooner or later.

He hadn't thought too much of her until his little skirmish with her. Sure, he had noticed her, but he didn't care for her, there were more important things to be done. But that fight had left her in his mind. Just… something about her told her she had a gift, a gift that would only show with assistance.

He was dragged from his thoughts by a small mew from his cat Schnaps. The cat pawed at his leg, demanding he pick her up. Sighing, he leaned over, slipping his hands under her belly and lifting her up onto his lap. Instantly the cat settled down, curling her tail neatly round her paws and her bright gaze boring into him.

"Vhat, is it dinner time?" he asked, leaning forward to glance at the clock. Schnaps meowed loudly in agreement as she got up and leapt onto his desk where her bowl lay.

Horst stared at her for a second, then gave up and went to go refill her bowl. With his mind off the new girl for awhile, he could actually get to work without spacing out again.

Still, that little something nagged at him. She was unique, gifted. Very much like him.


	4. A touch that could kill

**A/N. People! If you have a DeviantArt account and wanna help me out with a little project I like to call Team BLK Project (just TBP or BLK for short), go to DevArt, search for a user called Rexcaliburr (with 2 Rs) and look at my journal! (I also post Radioactive there the same time I post each chapter here)**

**Horst and his cat Schnaps (who guest-starred last chapter) belong to Derwen on DevArt**

**TF2 belongs to Valve**

**Terri belongs to me.**

**Enjoy!**

Horst was roused from his sleep by a gentle pat on the face with a soft paw. He opened one weary eye, and was greeted with Schnaps staring at him, her eyes boring into his face. With a grunt, Horst propped himself up with one arm, completely regretting not having gone to bed like he knew he should have and instead letting himself fall asleep at his table with the excuse of needing to finish paperwork.

He closed his eyes again, allowing himself just a bit more sleep, but Schnaps wouldn't have it and pawed him again, this time with more force and a louder meow.

"Ach…" he mumbled as he slowly pushed himself to his feet, wincing at the stiffness in his back. "Why did you let me sleep at my table?" Schnaps didn't quite seem to care about answering the question, only pawing at her bowl insistently and sniffing the empty bowl.

With a heavy sigh, he shuffled over to the bag of cat food, grabbing it and dragging it across the floor back to the bowl. He tipped the food in, gently stroking Schnaps as she buried her face in the food eagerly. With a hand, he reached across the table for his glasses, slipping them on and shuffling out the door, eyes half closed.

The smell of pancakes wafted through the hallway of rooms, accompanied by a bright, merry whistling that everyone knew as Pyro's. The firebug had a distinctive whistle; it was always cheerful and didn't have a particular melody. And it came at any time of the day when Pyro was relaxed. Even when strolling away from a mauled corpse, swinging his bloody axe with one hand and searching for his next victim. He'd whistle.

Most of the team woke up at the sound and smell of pancakes, except for Sniper and Heavy, the first of which wasn't around to smell the pancakes and the latter didn't quite care for them. Scout had come out first, in a simple red shirt similar to his uniform and in light grey shorts. He yawned, slamming a fist on every door he passed and yelling, "'Ey, breakfast!"

Terri jerked awake as Scout pounded his fist on her door, tangling herself in sheets. "I uhh… nngh…" she mumbled as she sank down into the sheets again, tossing them aside. The sheets slipped onto the floor, but no move was made to pick them as the Huntress rolled into a sitting position, yawning and one hand rubbing her eye lazily.

She leaned forward and pulled the blanket back onto the bed, pushing herself up and onto her feet. She shuffled out the door and to the table where the team apparently always met for breakfast.

"G'mornin'," Engineer greeted as the sleepy girl joined them at the table, collapsing into a chair. Sniper had already come in and was at the table, newspaper in hand, coffee mug on the table. Without asking, Terri grabbed the mug and took a sip of the coffee. Sniper said nothing, though he had obviously seen the action. He didn't really care, since she was his cousin. But if it had been anyone else he'd have gone into a fit.

"Morning," Terri mumbled in return as she set down the cup again. Pyro returned to the table, balancing plates of hot pancakes on his arms and setting them at the table. She mumbled her thanks before splatting a good lot of butter on the pancakes, spreading it around with her knife.

Later today there would be another match, and she'd have to-

The team (or whatever part of the team who were there) was staring at her. Why were they staring at her? "Uh… lassie," Demo started, eyes directed to her hand. She glanced down, before suddenly leaping back. The knife – or whatever remained of the knife – clattered on the table. The rest of the knife had corroded away.

No. No no no. This wasn't happening. She was sure she wasn't hallucinating or anything now, this was real. "Shit," she hissed, turning and rushing out of the room. Demo glanced at Sniper, then at Pyro, then at Engineer, a silent prompt if anyone wanted to go after her. No one had gotten up. Engineer shrugged. "I'm sure she's just left some of that corrosive stuff on her hands last night," he offered. The four of them pushed the knife away, and the thought, to the back of their minds.

Terri had disappeared outside, staring at her hands. What the hell – magic didn't happen in this world. This was absolutely ridiculous. She leaned against the wall outside, tilting her head to stare at the sky, bright with the morning sun.

Okay okay, first things first. She needed to figure out what her hands could corrode and what it couldn't. She thought back to last night. She had broken the door handle of the bathroom, and the shower tap, but not her toothbrush. Her blanket, bed, room door handle hadn't melted away either. But the knife had. Curiously, she stepped forward to the bridge, placing her hand on the wooden frame. Nothing. No sizzling, nothing gave way. Okay, at least it wasn't ridiculously powerful that she could corrode wood. So, only metal that she touched would melt away, but her door handle was made out of metal too… it hadn't melted under her touch. So was it only that anything that wasn't hers gave way to her hands?

Only one way to find out. On the opposite side of the fort there was a metal barrel that belonged to the BLUs. Quietly, she crossed the bridge, all the while staring up at the BLU fort to make sure no one saw her do what she was about to do. She approached the barrel, lightly brushing the tips of her fingers across it.

With a soft sizzle, the metal turned black and crumbled away, leaving dents where her fingers had rubbed against. With a foot, she nudged the black dust on the floor, and only then did she realize she had left the base without shoes, and that was enough to send her sprinting back.

She returned to the table, careful about what her hands touched. To her relief, those who had seen her earlier didn't say anything, and the broken knife was gone. Sniper cast her a subtle knowing look, but said nothing, and flicked his newspaper again, mumbling a greeting to Medic as he dragged himself out to the kitchen.

"Guten morgen, Herr Snip- vhat is this?" Medic asked as he pulled out the broken fork, hidden behind a row of dishes. Huntress stiffened at the sight, and Engineer, who whipped around, took it from him. "Just a broken knife, founded it lying in the corner with rust eating away at it," he said, taking a look at the knife before tossing it out. Medic rolled his eyes. "Ve should seriously clear zhis place out sometime," he muttered, taking a cup down from the rack and pouring himself coffee.

Terri sunk down in her chair once the knife was gone, and slipped a piece of paper between her fingers and the fork as she ate before anything else corroded under her touch. Spy's eyes flickered to the paper, but he chose to remain silent.

Breakfast was as always, Soldier talking about America, Demo yelling back that Scotland was so much better, Sniper ignoring the both of them, Medic quickly finishing his food before going back to his Infirmary with Heavy following.

Engineer collected the plates and dumped them in the dishwasher. As mercenaries, none of them had the time for washing dishes and none of them liked it either. The dishwasher hadn't been provided, but in one of their road trips into the city, they had pooled together some cash to buy one.

"What's our game today?" Terri asked, her mind off the knife for a while. Sniper shrugged. "Probably payload or control point, I dunno. Don't matter ta me anyway. All games are the same to a support cla- Pyro, keep that thing away from me," he said, nudging the nozzle of the flamethrower off his lap. With an incoherent apology, he shifted his flamethrower aside, pointing the barrel away from Sniper's lap and under the table instead.

Terri got up, wandering over to Pyro. "Is that homemade?" she asked, kneeling down beside the firebug to take a look at the flamethrower. With a happy cheer, Pyro nodded, stroking a hand down the flamethrower. Terri, wide-eyed at the weapon, raised a hand. "Whoa…. May I?" she prompted. Pyro nodded and let Terri feel the flamethrower. It felt nice, probably comfortable to hold. Not so much for her, it seemed heavy. But it looked good, very good, for something self-made.

"Mission begins in sixty seconds," the Administrator's sharp voice hissed over the intercom. The battle today was situated in Nucleus, and being the first time here, Terri was pretty scared by the whole place. It looked huge and scary. Sniper had explained the whole concept of King of the Hill already, but she wasn't too sure what good a support class like her would do.

"Yer doing good out there, lassie," Demo said, patting her on the back. In return she gave a smile. "Thanks."

"Mission begins in thirty seconds." Terri cracked her knuckles before drawing an arrow, keeping the bow slack first. She didn't want it to lose tension by pulling the arrow back now, so she kept the string relaxed.

From the window at the side of the Respawn room, she could see the BLU Respawn room, and a familiar face watching her.

As Horst noticed the girl turn to look at him, he directed his eyes away, stepping away from the window. He'd get his chance to meet with her later. For now, he had to focus. Silently, he activated the Medigun, feeling the power charge through his hands into the machine, amplifying his power to charge the Heavy.

"Mission begins in ten seconds." In that few seconds she had to gather herself, Terri frowned, flicking her hair back from her shoulder. She glanced down at her hands, realizing that her arrow had not corroded under her fingers. Lovely. She'd had to make sure she didn't touch anything that would give her away.

But one question clouded her mind: Could her touch kill a person?


	5. Guten tag, Fräulein

**A/N. Thanks for the first review! You have no idea how much this spurred me on to write. I… might be getting a new cover, if I'm not too lazy to make it. Which I probably will be though. **

Thirty seconds into the game and already the BLUs were capping the point. RED wasn't able to fight them off up close and personal, the enemy had a sentry placed on the point too, along with a dispenser. Stupid Engineer. "Move up, move up!" Soldier yelled, firing two rockets before reloading behind the cover of a wall as the blue coloured sentry beeped and turned towards him. Spy was already working on sapping the sentry and dispenser, then backstabbing the Engineer.

Terri was disappointed when the rockets got airblasted back to them, blowing up against the wall Soldier was hiding behind. "Bloody hell," she snarled. RED was never exceptionally good at King of the Hill games, but BLU was being incredible today. Their only consolation was when Spy managed to place his sapper on the sentry while the BLU Engineer wasn't looking, but that had earned him a wrench to the face, two shotgun bullets in his chest and a journey back to Respawn.

"I'm not liking this," Heavy hissed as Medic charged him up in Respawn. As soon as they stepped out, they had better have that charge ready to deploy. Spy sighed, pulling out his revolver and the little golden pocketwatch he treasured so dearly. "Oui, me neither. Good luck," he said, leaving Respawn. Instantly, the sentry turned to him and fired, and the Spy fell, although Heavy knew he was now cloaked and that was just a fake corpse.

Terri was outside, behind cover with Pyro. "Light me," she hissed. The firebug set her arrow on fire, and immediately she popped out of cover, taking the shot. The arrow pierced her counterpart against the wall. "Bloody virgin," she snarled, crouching again. "Go offensive," she ordered, "get Medic to charge you after Heavy."

Horst pulled out the Cruader's Crossbow, firing at the Pyro as he ran out of cover. He snarled as the sentry behind him, instead of firing, screeched at the sapper on it. "Engineer! Sapper!" he called, but the Engineer froze into ice as Spy slammed his Spycicle into his back. With a grin, he pulled out the Dead Ringer in the same moment Horst released the arrow from the crossbow. Spy shrieked as the pocketwatch dropped a fake corpse, but materialized right behind Horst, wrapping one arm around his neck and putting the Diamondback revolver to his head.

Pyro had returned with Medic to Terri, lighting her arrow on fire. She stood up, her arrow pointing at the easiest target, who was Horst being restrained by Spy. She fired the arrow, landing it in his gut. Spy grinned. "_Gute nacht,_" he taunted in German, knowing how much it irritated Horst, pulling the trigger.

The girl leapt out of cover as Medic and Pyro, now invincible covered her with his fire, onto the point, now empty. Spy had disappeared to find his next victim by then. In the heat of the moment she hadn't realized she had killed the one person she suspected knew something about her new ability. Well, he'd be back later.

Her ability. How many things had she corroded by now? Everything here except the floor and walls were made of fucking metal. Eyes wide, she looked back. Nothing looked damaged except for marks left behind by fire and rockets and bullets.

Okay, okay at least no one had noticed. That was what was most important. She had yet to try her ability on a person's face. Maybe later, when she had the chance at hand-to-hand combat. Right now there was a point that needed to be capped. Priorities.

Horst had returned to Respawn. He wasn't too amused and honestly didn't quite feel like going back on the field, but it was his job and he had to. His coffee hadn't been strong enough that morning and he was already feeling exhausted. But the faster one team won, the faster the game could end and the faster he could talk to the girl. BLU had a huge advantage in time, and that was the only thing that spurred him to get out of the room and back on the battlefield.

BLU was pushing the REDs back again, taking over the point again as they forced the REDs to retreat. "Mission ends in sixty seconds," Admin hissed at them. Just a minute more, Horst told himself. He had to just deal with this for a minute more.

Clearly RED couldn't take over the point in this sixty seconds left, with their Pyro, Medic and Soldier currently still Respawning. Even with a Heavy the odds were just impossible. But clearly they didn't want to back down yet till the game was over, and tried to push BLU off the point. Terri, who had gone offensive with Scout and Heavy, was charging towards the point. She had her Tribalman's Shiv in hand, fire burning in her eyes. But the three of them were chased back to their base as their time ran out, and all the BLUs gained critical damage in their weapons. The BLU Engineer chased her back into her own Respawn, and in a flurry of panic after getting cornered with him advancing on her, she grabbed his face.

The Engineer shrieked as acid from her hand seeped into his skin and burned his skin, melting the flesh off his face. Terri hated the feel of skin melting under her hand, but she shoved him back and stared at the horrifying sight of what was left of his face. The skin had melted off like wax, one eyeball was left and rolling away, the other was… disintegrated? It was awful. She backed off, before turning and sprinting out of the room.

Horst had returned to his base to see Schnaps again and clean himself up. If he was going to see the RED Huntress, he had to look presentable. Decent, at the very least. Right now he was coated in blood spatters, and he needed coffee.

Schnaps greeted him as he returned to the Infirmary with a loud meow and a head butt against his leg. He smiled down at her, bending down to pick her up as he left his Medipack and Medigun in the cupboard. "Vhat have you been doing vhile I vas gone?" he asked the cat, letting her lick his face lovingly. She responded with another loud meow and he chuckled, placing her on his table. "Daddy's exhausted," he sighed, collapsing into his chair. He stared into his coffee mug and grunted as he got back up to make himself coffee again. Schnaps leapt off the table and onto his chair when he returned.

"Kitty," he warned, chasing her off. The cat wound herself round his legs as he drank his coffee, thinking of all the possible reasons he could come up with for needing to talk with the girl.

Two hours later and after Terri had gotten over what she did back in Teufort, she unlocked her room door, creeping out and disappearing out of the fort and onto the bridge. Horst hadn't expected to see her out on the bridge. In fact, he hadn't known she was there till he looked closely out of the window and saw her bow peeking out from under the bridge. The bow could have been easily Sniper's, but there were a few colourful feathers he had noticed tied on the edge of her own.

Was she alone? Horst tried looking under the bridge roof, but from such a high view he couldn't see. Only one way to find out, he supposed. He slipped on a simple black shirt and left, nudging Schnaps back inside as she tried to wiggle her way out of the door.

Terri had her bow with her, although she only had one arrow lying across her bow on the floor next to her. She didn't have her Tribalman's Shiv either. Horst stepped out of the base, pausing to see if it would garner any reaction from her. She hadn't noticed him, just staring down into the water below the bridge and swinging her legs.

"_Guten tag, Fräulein,_" Horst greeted, stepping closer to her. Instantly the Australian jerked back, leaping to her feet and drawing the only arrow she had, pointing it at him. "What the fu- you…" she drawled. She didn't even know why she said that. "Me?" Horst questioned with a smile. "I am not here to kill you, I have no intentions of zhat," he said. Slowly, Terri dropped her bow and relaxed the string.

"Uh… sorry 'bout that. I'm not used ta the whole RED versus BLU- you're from BLU," she said flatly, narrowing her eyes. With a hand, she brushed away her fringe. Horst smiled. "So I am, but like I said, I am not here to kll you." Terri raised an eyebrow, still tense. "Then what are you here for?" she asked, wandering a bit closer to her.

Oh wow. How was he going to tell her he knew there was something special about her? Not in the romantic way, but something about her as a whole was different from a normal person, like him.

He sat down by the bridge, looking down into the water. This was going to be a difficult conversation.


	6. What's your name?

**A/N. And here is chapter 6! Things are escalating pretty fast, so I'm trying to add in bits and pieces I never wrote down in my draft.**

Brilliant. What the hell was he going to say now? "I uh… who are you again?" Terri asked. The past few battles she had been in was a blur and she wasn't quite remembering who was who.

"You shot me in the gut vith a flaming arrow zhen ze Spy shot me in the head," Horst said. Terri settled down next to him, keeping her legs crossed. "Oh… that's you, huh? Sorry 'bout the arrow, by the way," she said, dragging her bow across her lap. "Nein, it's fine. I'm used to it. I've suffered vorse," he said.

They lapsed into silence, Horst unsure of how to bring up the topic of her ability, and Terri having nothing at all to say. "By any chance did your team leave any acid in the sewer?" Terri asked. Horst raised an eyebrow. "Vhat?" "Acid. In the sewer? Because I saw some the other day." No need to add in details like what happened after she fell into it.

Wonderful, now that she had brought it up, he could easily bring about the topic he was aiming for. He decided to play dumb and let her show him. "Vhere?" he asked, leaning over the edge of the bridge to try see. He very well knew it was there, but he needed to keep up the act.

Terri scratched the back of her head and grabbed the bow. "Eh… I'll show you," she offered, jumping down into the water. Horst landed with a splash next to her and they surfaced. "Over there," she said, pointing to the little puddle of goo in the sewer. Horst swam up to it. He knew what it was, Soldier had made him leave it there to prevent the REDs from entering via the sewers, but he hadn't really studied about what it is the goo could do to a person.

"Did you… come into contact vith it…?" Horst asked, flushing out the goo with water. It floated by them, then dissolved into the water with a soft fizzle. Terri scratched her arm. "Uh… kinda…?"

Great, so he knew she had come into contact with it but he didn't know what the acid may have done to her. He couldn't simply stroll back into his own base with her by his side and just leave her be, but he needed to bring her back to his Infirmary to run a couple of tests. With a guilty look and a small smile, he turned to her. "Zhis might hurt a bit…"

Then he swung his arm out at her and knocked her right out cold. As she fell, he caught her and tossed her over his shoulder, stepping back into the sewers that led up to the base. At least he could convince Soldier he wanted to toy around with her organs and the American wouldn't know any better.

As he returned to the fort, Scout eyed him and the girl slung over his shoulder. "Oi Nazi!" he called, trotting up to the German. Horst rolled his eyes at the nickname. "Watcha got there?" He poked Terri's arm lightly.

"Nozhing of your concern. She is my new test subject. Found her outside zhe base," Horst hissed, shoving Scout away before the Bostonian had the chance to ask any more questions or step into his Infirmary. He heard Scout snort, then footsteps retreated into the distance. Only then did he relax and place her on the table.

Schnaps jumped up on the table next to Terri, sniffing at her and licking her arm. Instantly Horst picked the cat up and put her on his table. "Nein, kitty. You cannot do zhat," he scolded. Now all he had to do was wait for her to wake up, then start asking questions.

It was unlike of Horst to render someone unconscious then drag them back to his place just to ask a few questions, but he needed to do it somewhere private, where no one else would hear. And clearly the bridge was not a good idea. He made a mental reminder for himself to apologize for the sudden hit later, after making sure he hadn't hit her too hard to cause damage.

He let Schnaps watch him as he checked her head for any damage he could have possibly done to her. Nothing, except the possibility of a headache when she woke up later. Oh well, at worst headaches were incredibly annoying.

Horst hadn't left his Infirmary for dinner, though that was normal. He didn't particularly enjoy sitting at a table with eight other insane people who yelled, screamed or tossed grenades around like candy. And Heavy, like he always did, brought him a sandwich later in the night.

"Danke, Herr Heavy," Horst said as Heavy opened the door and slid the plate on the desk. Without a word, he nodded and left, closing the door behind him. Thank God for people like Heavy, who didn't question things unless it went against his rights and personal decisions. Horst stared at the sandwich for a moment, then glanced at the Huntress who was now only partially conscious.

About fifteen minutes later, while Horst was feeding Schnaps her dinner, he heard her shift and groan. He didn't look back as she got up. "You are avake," he said simply. Terri stared at him. What the- how'd she get here? And why?

"My head hurts…" she mumbled, tucking her head between her knees, raised up to her chest. Horst straightened up and turned around, leaving Schnaps to eat. "It happens, Fräulein." He approached her, surprised she wasn't demanding for answers. Most people did that when they woke up suddenly in somewhere they didn't remember being in.

"How'd I get here?" There it was. "Vell, ve vere on zhe bridge zhen I hit you and dragged you back here, if zhat's vhat you are asking," Horst said lightly, sitting back in his chair by the desk. Terri glared at him. "What time is it?" she asked. The Medic never had a clock in his Infirmary, except for the small one on his desk to tell him how man hours of sleep he was lacking.

"Around 10 at night."

"And why am I here?"

"You said you touched zhe green stuff in zhe sewers."

"So…?"

"I haff no idea vhat vas in it."

"And…?"

"Something could haff happened to you."

Schnaps interrupted them with a meow.

Terri glared at him again, then stuck out a hand. "Terri Wither, RED Huntress. Nice to meet ya," she said. Horst stared at the offered hand for a second, then got up and shook it, only to jump back and yelp as her ability kicked in upon contact with something that wasn't hers.

She retracted her hand, eyes widening as Horst hissed in pain, shaking his hand. Like that was going to help. "Oh God- I am so sorry!" Horst hissed, "Nein, it's okay. I've suffered… worse…" The pain ebbed from his hand and he straightened up again.

"Zhere ve go, I'm sure zhat vas not somezhing you vere born vith?" Horst asked. Terri shook her head. "Vhen did you find out?" "Uh… last night, while I was bathing. I kinda melted the doorknob, then the shower head itself," Terri admitted. Horst glanced out of the window, noticing the RED fort getting a bit frantic on the disappearance of their Huntress.

"You should go back for now, ve can talk tomorrow. Your team is missing you," he said, pulling open the window and tossing a rope out. Terri nodded to him. "I vill find you again tomorrow. Gute Nacht, Fräulein," he said, as Terri climbed out the window and slid down the rope. She waved to him as he pulled the rope back in and closed the window, and only after she had walked back to the RED fort had she realized he never told her his name.


	7. The feathered bow

**A/N. So this story is escalating… quickly. I'm going to try slow it down, add more detail, y'know? And updates might be slower from now since I'm a bit busy with preparing for a Musical. **

Terri had returned to the fort, where she got greeted by Soldier yelling in her face about how she needed to report to him every time she wanted to leave the fort. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU HAVE CAUSED, MAGGOT?" he screamed. Terri flinched and put her palm on his helmet, pushing him back. "Don't yell at me," she hissed, ignoring the fact that his helmet was half melted now. No one else was around to see it and Soldier himself was too stupid. "I've only been here three days."

Soldier kept yelling at her, but she ignored him, turning and storming to her room, slamming the door shut. She threw herself onto the bed, ignoring Sniper as he knocked on her door.

"Shiela? Ya okay?" he called. Terri let out a distressed moan from inside, telling him to go away. "Okay, see ya tomorrow," Sniper said. Terri didn't get off her bed till she heard footsteps retreat into the distance before she got up. Suddenly, there was a crash outside and yelling, peaking her curiousity.

She poked her head out of the door, missing Scout as he ran by. "Yo girly, c'mon!" he shouted. "What?" What the hell was going on? Scout turned back, swinging his bat. "Some BLU just invaded!" BLU? She reached for her bow- where was it? Shit. The bow wasn't lying on her bed like it should have been. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't brought it back at all.

Which meant she left it in enemy territory.

Not good. Drawing her kukri from the table, she sprinted out of the room and to the bridge where the REDs were surrounding the BLU Medic. He was holding her bow, the feather dangling off the edge. God dammit. "Why'd ya got me cousin's bow?" Sniper growled, pushing the barrel of his rifle up against his chest. All the REDs seemed pretty pissed about it.

"Yeah, you hurt her or something?" Engineer snapped, turning to her. "He hurt you?" he asked. She shook her head, unsure of what to do. Horst shot her a look and she shrugged desperately. What was she supposed to do?

Sniper had taken back the bow, and Terri took it back, pushing the REDs away. "He's got my bow. Let me deal punishment myself," she said, standing in front of him. "Ya can't trust 'im, Shiela," Sniper argued, but she pushed her face up against his. "I said, let. Me. Deal. With. Him," she snarled. "Go back to base. I'll be there once I'm done." She pulled out her kukri and ran a finger across the blade, glaring at Horst.

Slowly, the team retreated to their base, and Terri dragged Horst down into the water where the Team couldn't see. "Danke, Fräulein," Horst said, brushing off his coat as Terri sat down, tucking her kukri in it's sheath. "Sorry 'bout my team. They're… idiots. What'd ya come over to our side for?" she asked. What a stupid question. "To return your bow, you vill need it for tomorrow, ja?" Terri sighed. "Yeah. Now uh… I'm gonna have to hurt you in some way or get blood on my knife or my team's gonna know something's up. But I don't wanna kill ya."

"I got an idea, vait here," Horst said, disappearing through the sewers to his own base. He returned a minute later holding a heart. "Is that a…" Terri winced at the sight. "I'm sure your own Medic has held vorse zhan a heart," Horst said simply, taking the knife from her sheath and stabbing it through the bloody organ. "Here. Take zhis back to your team and tell them it vas mine." The floor was already stained with blood dripping from the stabbed heart, and her shirt and hand was stained too.

"Petit?" Spy called from the opposite sewer. "See you tomorrow. Here, another feazher for your bow," Horst said, placing a white feather on her palm then turning. "Wait!" Terri called, as Spy called out for her again. "I never asked for your name," she said. Horst paused, looking back. "Horst. Horst Dieter-Albach. See you, Fräulein." With that, he disappeared just in time for Spy to step out of the corner of the sewer and swim over to her. Terri curled her fist around the feather.

He could have been spying on them, but Terri had noticed the lack of an Invisibility watch on his wrist. He'd probably sent it to Engineer for repair again. "Oh- uh, hey Spy," she sad, staring at her knife with the bloody heart. "Very good, I see you killed 'im. Where is 'is body?"

"Uh… picked up by Respawn," she said, hoping he wasn't good at picking up on lies. The last thing she needed was for him to realize she was lying. He seemed skeptical initially, but the heart on her knife was convincing enough. He flicked it off the kukri and wrapped a hand around her.

"Come, mon cher, the team is waiting," he said. Silently, Terri followed him, feather still in hand.

Sleep was difficult for Terri. She constantly tossed and turned in her bed, and ended up staring at the ceiling. Already the white feather had been tied on a string, round her bow with the rest of the coloured feathers.

The night was cool, but she felt hot and irritated. She rolled over, checking the clock. One in the morning. With a groan, she flopped back into bed, turning over and yanking the blanket over her head, hoping to get some sleep.

It was around three she had finally given in, pushing open her room door and stepping out. Her hair was a huge mess, but she didn't really care. She knocked on the door of the Infirmary and when she didn't get a reply, she let herself in. Medic was asleep on the table, Archimedes curled up in his arm. As she stepped in, Archimedes opening its eyes and flew over, crooing.

She tickled the dove before sifting through the cupboard for sleeping pills. Archimedes crooed again, offering to help. "Sleeping pills, Archi. You know where they are?" she asked. The dove stared at her for a second, then cocked its head and nudged a bottle at the back of the cupboard.

Terri reached in and pulled it out, careful not to drop anything. Sure, the label read sleeping pills. So she popped the cap and took two, closing the bottle again and putting it back. She stroked the dove again before leaving the room and flopping back onto her own bed, letting the pills take effect and her mind wander into nothingness.

In the morning, Terri woke up feeling cranky and even more tired than the previous night. Irritated, she threw the blanket off her and flung her door open, dragging her bow and kukri out with her.

"Whoa, wot yoo so pissed about lassie?" Demo asked as she threw herself into a seat and rested her head on the table. "Yes, what is Leetle girl angry about? Tell Heavy, Heavy beat person that make Leetle girl angry," Heavy offered, but Terri just shook her head, burying her head into her arms. "Nothing… I'm just tired," she muttered.

Morning was no good, she had snapped at almost every single one of her teammates and then resorted to locking herself in her room to avoid the questions, only letting Spy in and burying herself in his arms and muttering about feathers and sleeping pills.

"Mm… I hate this so much…" she moaned, as Spy gently stroked her arm. "Oui, I know how you feel. I like this job but yet I hate it," he said, pushing her away and stood up. "Come on, you cannot lock yourself in here all day. The battle starts in an hour."

Terri slammed her face in her pillow. "Ugh… I don't wanna go…" she whined, her voice muffled by the pillow. Spy poked her a few times. "Come on, I don't have all day," he sighed. Finally, she sat up. "Fine. We'll go."

"TODAY WE ARE FIGHTING IN ARENA. SO IF YOU DIE, YOU DO NOT RESPAWN TILL IT IS OVER. AND ONLY PANSIES DIE!" Soldier shouted as the team got ready in Respawn. Sniper nodded, ignoring him as he slipped on his aviators and hat. "Mm, we know that, mate," he grunted, picking up his Sniper Rifle.

Terri didn't like the idea of dying and not respawning. But at least she'd Respawn later after the game was over. But that could last an hour. Or two hours. Maybe even more, if both teams were strong today. She sat down on the bench and sighed as the Admin counted down the last five second before the game began.

Today was going to be a long day.


	8. Not a psychotic pyromaniac

**A/N. I MIGHT be starting a CATS the Musical fanfic too. No promises. CATS is a kind of on-off thing for me so I might lose interest so… no promises. Also, check out my Borderlands fanfics, 10 Days and the sequel Missing Piece (which is a collab with Chocolateypony, by the way). **

**DISCLAIMER: If you don't like reading people's spins on the Pyro under his mask, SKIP THIS CHAPTER.**

**And did I put the disclaimer last chapter? Yes? No? I'm too lazy to check/update.**

**Horst and Schnaps (who didn't show up last chapter) belong to Derwen on DeviantArt (CHECK HER OUT. SHE IS AMAZING.)**

**TF2 belongs to Valve**

**Terri belongs to me. No stealing any of the above.**

** Ciriajacob: I gotta say, seeing that last review really made me laugh (not in a bad way!). I swear it's the smiley at the end. That really pushed me to keep writing :)**

Arena was hard. A lot harder than expected. In normal games she could take risks and just Respawn if needed but here, with the knowledge that the dead didn't come back till the game was over, it really drove her to her Survival Instinct. She didn't want to be the first to die. At least both teams were together, now all attacking the Saxtoner, Horseless Headless Horsemann. The violent pumpkin-headed warrior chased them with his giant axe, laughing maniacally.

There was only two ways to go down with this game: Kill the Saxtoner or get killed.

Arena Lumberyard wasn't the best of maps to play Saxtoner on, with most of the teams crowding on a rooftop with sentries everywhere. Terri camped up on the roof next to a dispenser, an arrow slack, but she herself was wary of the Horseless Headless Horsemann. She hadn't seen it kill anyone yet, though the size of that axe told her the process probably wasn't very pleasant.

Out of her own morbid cruelty, Admin had made the Saxtoner less lethal, so it'd take at least two hits to kill someone. That was worse yet better for the mercenaries. They'd have a higher shot at survival but they would suffer.

Already the BLU Scout had come crawling without a leg back to Horst, and a second time the RED Medic had to go down to find Heavy, who had returned armless. "Jesus," Terri breathed, drawing her bow as the creepy freak ran by, chasing Scout around. Pyro crouched next to her, holding his flare gun out.

"Mmph hmm hpphmmh!" Pyro said, firing the flare gun. The flare hit the ground just next to the Horsemann. "C'mon, Pyrocracker," Terri breathed, drawing another arrow. The arsonist fired again, this time hitting the Saxtoner in the foot. Angry, it turned it's grinning pumpkin head towards them up on the roof. "Hmmh!" Pyro cried, grabbing Terri by the arm and yanking her aside as it leapt up onto the roof.

Instantly Engineer panicked, the sentry doing all it could to fend itself, while Engineer grabbed his Dispenser and ran. The rooftop exploded in action, anyone who was up on it leaping onto the ground and running.

Pyro dragged Terri into a shed on the opposite side of the map, slamming the door shut and sinking to the ground. "Hmhh huuh!" he snorted. Terri felt round the walls. "Hey, firecracker, mind making some light?" she asked.

Pyro stared at her for a second through blanket eye sockets, then opened a palm, a small ball of energy forming in his palm. He closed his fist, finger by finger, and picked up a stick on the ground. With a small puff of fire from the tip of Pyro's index finger, the stick lit up, becoming a small torch. He handed it over to her.

Terri watched with amazement, suddenly aware of where her hands lay. She kept them on her lap. "Whoa… you know magic?" she asked. Pyro nodded, then pointed a finger at her. "Hmm hmmph?" It sounded vaguely like "Can you?". Terri wasn't sure if she should tell the firebug about her little ability, then she nodded too.

"Yeah, I can." Pyro took back the little burning branch as Terri sifted for something metal on the ground. "Eh… there's nothing that's made of metal here, and I don't wanna damage your flamethrower," she sighed, leaning back. Pyro stroked the flamethrower, when suddenly, light exploded in the little shed as the Horsemann ripped open the roof of the small hut.

"Shit," Terri hissed, leaping aside and making a run for it. Pyro followed her. "Split up!" she cried, turning away from Pyro. Behind her, the storming of the freak didn't fade. It just got louder and louder as he chased her, slowly catching up, raising his axe.

Pyro heard the shriek on the other side of the map. He was the last one standing. Raising his flamethrower, he let the Horsemann advanced on him. He squeezed the trigger, spraying fire at the Headless warrior before he went down too in glorious flames.

Terri opened her eyes in Respawn. She was lying on the floor, her back propped up against the bench. Everyone else (which was pretty much her entire team) was also just getting up from death. Oh, the joys of technology.

It was around three in the afternoon when the team left Respawn to return to their own forts. Not a reasonable time to go out to see Horst or Pyro, not that it was ever reasonable to see Pyro. She left her bow and kukri on her bed, heading to the arsonist's door.

She paused outside the door. It was damaged, dark patches of wood where fire had blazed and deep incisions where Pyro had smashed his axe into before. Creepy as hell, but nonetheless she knocked on the door.

"Mmhhmm hmm," Pyro called from inside. Terri opened the door with her arm, not wanting to destroy anything that belonged to the Pyromaniac. Inside was bright and colourful, drawings of unicorns and rainbows and balloons littering the floors and decorating the walls. It looked like possibly the exact opposite of Spy's room.

"Wow… that's nice," Terri said, wandering in. Pyro sat on the bed, decorated with fluffy pink sheets and a pink unicorn plushie sitting by the pillow. She closed the door behind her as Pyro invited her to sit.

"So uh… I was supposed to show you my magic, wasn't I?" she asked. Pyro nodded, and Terri reached for the scrap metal bundled in paper she had taken from Engineer in her pocket. She unwrapped the package and laid it out on the bed, taking a deep breath.

She reached out for a piece of the metal, but Pyro raised a hand. "What?" Terri asked, but Pyro just stared at her for a moment, then raised a hand to his mask. "No, you're not gonna-"

With a swift move, Pyro ripped the mask off his face, dropping it on the bed. Terri's eyes widened as she stared at it, not daring to look up from the mask, not daring to look at his face. But yet it killed her to find out what he looked like. And here he was, sitting right there in front of her and she couldn't take her eyes off the mask.

"Well?" Pyro asked. Well, he sure as hell was a male, no female voice could ever hit a pitch so masculine. She closed her eyes and raised her head, leveling her eyes with his face. She opened them.

In front of her sat a man, a pretty good-looking but messy man, still in the asbestos-lined suit but without the mask. He had a slightly sharp, angular face with messy brown hair that just fell in every direction. His eyes were bright orange, and she couldn't help but stare into them.

"Oh- what, my eyes? They're not natural. I'm wearing contacts," he explained. Oh. Slight disappointment but it didn't matter as he stuck out a hand. "Axel Bigarsky, nice to meet you," he said. Terri took the offered hand.

It was surreal, how his hand felt like one of a psychotic pyromaniac, but his face said otherwise. "You… are you even allowed to show your face?" Terri asked, her eyes dropping to the mask again.

"Didn't say I could in my contract, but then again," he said, a small glimmer to his orange contacts, "didn't say I couldn't." Terri smiled. "Makes sense," she said. Axel leaned forward. "So uh, you wanted to show me magic?"

"Right! Uh… yeah. Swear not to tell anyone else. Not Medic, not Sniper, not Spy, no one," Terri demanded as her hand crawled towards the metal. Axel nodded. "I swear."

With a fist, she grabbed the whole pile of metal, feeling it soften and disappear under her palm, a small pile of dust collecting on the paper. Axel leaned back, looking surprised but not shocked. "Corrosive touch, eh? Nice. Wanna see mine?" he offered, getting off the bed.

Terri turned to watched as Axel faced the burned door. With a circular motion of his hands, he produced a spurt of fire from his palm in a Hadouken move. The fire brushed the door and faded into the air. "Thing is, you can control yours. I can't," Terri said, brushing the dust off the bedsheet.

"And why pink, of all colours?" she asked, prodding the bedsheet. With a small smile, Axel picked up his mask and slipped it on again. With a shrug and a happy whistle, he left the room.

**A/N. Okay so most people won't like what I just wrote but I've always wanted to write my own spin on the Pyro under his mask. So here it is!**

**If you don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that.**


	9. The same gift

**A/N. You may have noticed my pen name had changed to Rexcaliburr! Well, for awhile I've been going by a new alias, Rexcaliburr aka Rexxy. So… I'm still Foreststrike, just with a different name. So my writing style hasn't changed and neither has the plot!**

**Also, thanks to Derwen (who owns Horst and Schnaps) for giving me the whole triggering idea!**

Terri had returned to her room after her odd little talk with the Pyro, staring at her hands. Later in the evening she'd leave again, see if Horst was around or not. They hadn't really met up properly yet, so it'd be nice to get things started before she destroyed anything else with her hands.

The sun was slowly beginning to set, becoming pinker and pinker as it went lower in the sky. Terri glanced out of her window at the sky, turning pink and purple. Teufort sunsets weren't the best she'd seen before, but they were undoubtedly pretty. After dinner she'd go out, if not the team would definitely suspect something.

It wasn't long before Heavy was calling everyone down for dinner. The team had already settled that whoever was making dinner would be the one to call them, since the rest were probably napping or doing something else. Terri hopped off the bed and creaked open her room door, peering outside. Now how was she going to eat without melting a fork?

She headed out, closing the door behind her and shoving her hands in her pockets. She was gonna need something to prevent her hands from unintentionally melting anything, now that she couldn't risk it with the whole team sitting at the table. Medic would surely want something to do with it.

Maybe she could burn her hands or something, so that they'd have to be wrapped up like Scout. It was a ridiculous request, but if necessary she'd do it. She couldn't just wrap them up since Medic or her teammates would want to see proof, so she had to hurt herself in some way.

But Pyro probably wouldn't comply, or he'd question. Now she was stuck. Subconsciously, she slowed her pace as she thought about how she was going to go about preventing her hands from melting anything. "Hey Shiela," Sniper called, getting up from the table. "Come help me out 'ere," he said, heading towards the exit of the fort.

Terri complied; grateful for the time it bought her to devise a plan. She followed Sniper out, who was waiting by his van for her. "Do me a favour 'ere and store these in yer room, will ya?" he asked, pointing to a couple of knives on the table in his van. Terri raised an eyebrow. "Sure… but why can't you keep them or ask one of the guys to do it?"

"Can't trust 'em and me van's full of sniper rifles. Yer room's practically empty," he said. True, her room didn't have much. She picked up the pile of knives, swinging one around. "Yeah sure, I'll keep them for you. Just don't come knocking on my door in the middle of the night for them."

With that, the two Australians headed back to base, Sniper back to the table where the team was already eating, and Terri to her room to stash the knives in her drawer. As she locked the drawer again after stashing the knives, she realized she hadn't come up with any plan regarding her touch. Well, she had two choices now. Wait for the team to leave before eating, or risk it.

Clearly she took the first open, telling Engineer to save her dinner for her and put it in the fridge or something. He had a questioning look, but he simply nodded. Then Terri fled out of the room and out onto the bridge. She tilted her head up to look at the window she had escaped from before. She wasn't surprised Horst wasn't there, but that posed another problem. How was she going to call him out now?

Looking around, there wasn't much she could use except for a pebble. So a pebble it was. Rearing back her fist which now contained the small stone, she aimed up at the window, swinging her arm forward and releasing the pebble. The rock hit Horst's window with a clack, then dropped down to the ground. Terri stared up at the window. If he wasn't in the infirmary, then there would be another problem.

She was starting to get bored with all the waiting, when the window opened. Horst looked out of the window, down at the bridge. "Vhat- oh, it is you, Fräulein," he said, "unexpected visit." "Can we talk? About my… ability, so to speak," Terri said, unsure of what to call it. Power? Gift? Whatever. So long he got it. Horst paused for a moment, then sighed. "Ja, give me a second."

He left the window and returned a minute later, dropping out a rope again. Terri grabbed onto it and began to scale the wall of the BLU Fortress, grabbing onto Horst's offered hand. She tumbled onto the floor of the infirmary, scaring Schnaps. "What- oh, nice cat you got," she said, reaching a hand out to stroke Schnaps. The tabby shied away, then reached forward for a sniff at Terri's outstretched fingers, then gently, slowly, pushed her head up against her fingers.

"She's really soft," Terri said, getting to her feet. Horst smiled, picking Schnaps up and putting her on his table. "Zhank you, I try to keep her like zhis. Now, about your… ability, as you call it?" Right. She had forgotten her real reason for being here. "You uh, got any scrap metal?" she asked, looking around for something to demonstrate with.

Horst sifted through his cupboard and produced a small piece of scrap metal, presumably from an older version of the Medigun, now dismantled. Terri stretched out her hand, palm facing up, a silent request for Horst to drop it in her palm.

As the metal landed, it started to sizzle, and Terri closed her fist around it, feeling the metal chunk get small and smaller in her closed fist. Once she felt it completely disappear into dust, she opened her palm again, only a small pile of dust sitting in the center of her palm now. The metal was completely gone.

Horst raised his eyebrow, his fingers lightly touching the back of Terri's palm as he raised her hand to get a better look. "Mein Gott, in all my years of vork I have never seen somezhing like zhis. You have a gift, Fräulein, something few people have," Horst said, dusting off the bits of ashes from Terri's hand.

"Wait- you know about this kind of stuff?" Terri asked, her eyes locking onto Horst as he sat down in his chair by his desk. He closed his eyes, nodding. "Ja, I do. Because I have zhe same gift. Vell, not exactly, I do not have an acidic touch. You know zhe healing beams zhat come out from my Medigun?" Terri nodded. "Zhe Medigun doesn't produce zhe beam, it amplifies my power instead for me. Except zhat I probably have more side effects zhan you do, seeing as I use my little ability a lot more often than you do."

"I'm pretty lost here, Horst," Terri said, one hand stroking a purring Schnaps and the other resting on her hip. "So what you're saying is that you've got an ability too, and it's basically healing, and that the Medigun just amplifies it? And there's side effects if you use it too much?" Horst nodded in reply.

"Pretty much. Tell me, did zhis only happen after you touched zhat acid in zhe sewers?" He asked, tilting his head to the side a little. Terri looked away. "Yeah…" Horst smiled, just a bit. "Zhen zhis is more of somezhing zhat has been running in your blood, but just needed to be triggered. Vell, since you have zhis, you must learn to use it properly or you're going to destroy somezhing unintentionally. You have already, haven't you?" Horst asked, seeing the guilty look on Terri's face.

"Kinda…" Horst rolled his eyes. "Vell, zhere is nozhing I can do zhis late, so you better return to your team. Meet me at zhe same time tomorrow, and I vill teach you to control you gift."


	10. Someone so beautiful

**A/N. So Horst's secret has been revealed! :D also, if you would, go to DeviantArt, check me and Derwen out (she's amazing) and add us to your DeviantWATCH! I post Radioactive there the same time I post each chapter here.**

**CiriaJacob: You really have no idea how happy I am to see your reviews each chapter :)**

**Horst belongs to Derwen on DeviantArt**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri belongs to me.**

The team had already disappeared to their rooms by the time Terri got back, except for Spy, who sat at the table, twirling his knife with one hand, cigarette in the other. "Good evening," he greeted as Terri took her dinner out from the fridge and picked at it with her fingers. "Hey Spy," she said, lowering her eyes to her food, grabbing a pair of wooden chopsticks.

"Where did you go earlier?" Spy asked, still twirling his knife. Terri popped a meatball in her mouth. "Outside," she mumbled, not wanting to talk about it and risk dropping any hints. Spy paused for a moment, then sat back. "You know you are rather attractive, right?" he said.

Terri glanced up from her spaghetti. "What?" she asked. Spy glanced up from his cigarette nonchalantly. "Well, as the only female on this team, I must say I do find you very attractive, _mon cher,_" Spy said, his gaze softening on her. Terri felt her cheeks get hot.

"Well uh, thanks. I guess I've found you pretty damn hot too," she admitted, remembering the first day she arrived, and he had sauntered down the stairs and kissed the back of her palm. It had thrilled her, but she thought he only did it because she was a lady. To think he had done it because he thought she was attractive was pretty absurd, but it was true.

For the rest of her meal, the two of them sat in silence, Spy's eyes drifting from his knife to his cigarette to Terri and back to the knife. Terri seemed pretty unbothered by the whole situation, but her mind was reeling with possible scenarios as she ate.

Eventually, Spy got up. "When you are done, come to my room. I have something to show you," he said, before disappearing into a cloud of smoke and nothingness before Terri could ask any questions. It was getting late, the sun already gone and replaced by shimmering stars. Curious as to know what Spy wanted to show her, she quickly finished up her dinner and left the plate in the dishwasher, heading down the hall to find Spy.

Only Scout and Demo were actually seen in the fort, on the couch, watching television and drinking Scrumpy and Bonk and just completely pigging out. The rest of the team was goodness knows where, Sniper presumably in his camper van and Medic in the Infirmary. And Spy, obviously, in his room.

Terri paused outside his door, a simple wooden door with his class symbol pasted on the door. Raising her hand, she knocked on the door with her knuckles, not having to wait long before the door open and she slipped in.

Spy's room wasn't fancy and decorated like Pyro's had been. It was simple, plain, the drawer locked and only a locket on the bed. Spy had taken off his jacket and it was hung up on a hanger by the cupboard, leaving the Frenchman wearing his white undershirt and pants.

Spy was fiddling with his knife on the bed, leaving Terri standing there awkwardly. Then he set the knife down, standing up and walking over to the girl. "You really are very pretty, _petit. _I haven't seen someone so beautiful before," he said, taking the locket off the bed and clutching it in his palm.

He approached Terri, slipping the locket into her palm. Then gently, very gently, he kissed her. Shocked, Terri had no idea how to react initially, then on instinct, she returned the kiss, closing her eyes, and letting her first kiss just be how it wanted to

Eventually, Spy let go, taking the tiniest step back. "So," Terri said, eyes dropping to the locket in her palm, "what does this make us?" The locket was like a mini Dead Ringer, a non functioning one, of course. On the cover, Terri's class symbol, a bow with a drawn arrow, was engraved onto it.

"I don't know, _petit, _we'll just wait and see what happens," Spy said, as he opened his room door and saw her out. She pecked him on the lips before leaving, returning to her room. She looked down at the locket in her palm, realizing it hadn't melted and it was made of metal. _Does it mean this is mine? _She asked herself, slipping the locket around her neck. She took off her vest and tossed it on the hanger, throwing herself into bed and letting sleep take her.

Horst had gone about cleaning up the giant mess that was his infirmary. Having had plenty of battles the past few days, it had left his infirmary in a huge mess and no time to clean it up. He knew he should get some sleep, since the next battle was early in the morning, but the mess was just ridiculous. Schnaps had gone to sleep in a bucket.

As he began to pack up the things on his table, he thought about how he was going to teach Terri to control her power. What if it didn't work the way he did? That would pose a problem, although nothing he couldn't deal with. It'd just take a lot more time and patience. He had plenty of patience, but time wasn't looking good.

"Schnaps, get out of zhere," Horst scolded as he picked the cat up from the bucket. Schnaps protested with a meow, but let herself be picked up. He placed her on the floor and went back to clearing his table, unsure of how much time had passed till he fell asleep at his table.

Terri had woken up at the prod of a finger. The sun wasn't even up, and Terri wanted to sleep. "What…" she mumbled, rolling over and pushing the hand away. Sniper poked her again, sitting on her bed. "Get up, Shiela," he said, "the game starts in an hour."

Her eyes flicked to him, eyeing him, then she tossed the blanket off her and sat up, yawning. "Why so early…" she yawned, as Sniper pulled her off the bed. "I dunno, but ya better go wash up. Oi'll be outside," he said, leaving her to slowly wake up.

The archer had managed to wake herself up with a splash of cold water to the face, dragging herself out to get something to out. Scout was asleep at the table, his hand holding his spoon, head on the table. The rest of the team clearly weren't any more awake than her.

Soldier was by far the most awake out of all them, although not yet in the screaming phase yet, thank God. The team didn't need a screaming Soldier at six in the morning.

"Why are we even fighting to god damn early," Scout muttered, still half asleep at the table. Lazily, he sat up and shoved a spoonful of cereal in his mouth. Engineer shrugged, playing his guitar softly. Spy was cooking breakfast, Sniper making coffee and everyone else pretty much doing nothing.

Around 6.30 in the morning and Terri was done with breakfast, and had gone to change. A simple red shirt, her vest, pants and the locket. She tied her scruffy hair up, flicking her fringe to the side. Hopefully the cup of coffee she had would be enough to keep her awake.


	11. Fiery flowers

**A/N. So last chapter was a bit… mushy. So this chapter, to compensate for those of you who don't like the whole kissing thing, there will be ACTION! Prepare to see Pyro split someone's skull with the Axtinguisher after flaring him! (No really, that's going to happen.)**

**As usual, Horst belongs to Derwen on DeviantArt**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**And Terri belongs to me.**

**Also, HUGE MAJOR thanks to Ciriajacob for making the new cover! (It's not up yet, but it will be soon!)**

Pipelands wasn't the best of maps, Terri decided. It was large, the slopes were incredibly difficult to push a payload up, and both teams were pushing their payloads so now the mercenaries had more to do. Push their own payload and prevent the other team from pushing their own.

Five minutes into the battle and Terri was already scarred, blood dripping from a cut across her chest. Her face was spattered with blood from a close fight with the BLU Engineer. She needed a dispenser or Medic. Scrambling away, she shouted for Medic. Too bad he was busy deploying an ubercharge on Heavy.

The closest thing was a dispenser, so she got close to it, letting it heal her as she drew another arrow. She felt a lot more relieved and energized as the cuts and wounds on her body healed. Ahead Horst and Scout were in heated battle, and Terri felt slightly guilty as Scout kept leaping over Horst and hitting him.

Turning away, she pulled her bow back just in time to shoot the BLU Sniper in the head. Her aim was getting better and better. As she lowered the bow to draw another arrow, she didn't hear the faint uncloaking behind her, only feeling the sharp pain as a blade slammed into her spinal cord. She didn't even have time to yell as she collapsed; the last thing she saw was herself running away with a devilish grin.

Respawn picked up her body, which Horst witnessed fall. The BLU Spy, cloaked as Terri, smiled as he passed Horst. Backstabs weren't the worst, they were quick, clean and the pain was short. What was worse was being smashed to by a bat. The RED Scout had fled after Heavy had appeared, sparing the German from death by a bat, which right now, he wished the Bostonian had just killed him.

Closing his eyes, he let the Heavy protect him as he turned the Medigun on himself. Moring battles were not his kind, definitely. The sun was just beginning to rise over Pipelands, painting the area a milky shade of orange-yellow.

Terri sighed as she stepped out of Respawn, an arrow already drawn. She needed to get her game up, BLU was performing plenty better than them. With a snarl, she raised her bow, aiming at her counterpart. As fast as she appeared, Terri released her arrow and ducked, hearing a feminine shriek. "Go back to the prostitute warehouse you came from!" Terri snarled, leaping down into the shallow water below. Ahead of her, Heavy was just spinning his minigun, the barrel facing her. Just as the first bullet left the gun, Spy materialized behind him and lunged forward, smashing his knife deep into the Heavy's back. He yelled, dropping to the ground as the bullet slammed into Terri's hip.

"Bloody fuck…" Terri hissed as Spy turned around and went for Horst, who had already drawn his Ubersaw, slashing out at Spy. The blade caught him across the midsection, but it didn't hinder Spy much. Pulling out his revolver, Spy took a few shots. Terri wasn't around to witness the rest of it as she dragged herself out of sight back to the Dispenser.

"Rough time?" Engineer asked as Terri flopped down next to his Dispenser. Terri heaved a sigh as the Dispenser's healing beams touched her body. "Yeah… they're a bloody tough team." The sentry turned to fire at the BLU Pyro as he tried to come close.

"They didn't use to be this hard, till their bloody Huntress came along. We've managed to hold up a lot better with you too," Engineer said. Terri got to her feet, feeling a bit more pumped. Axel joined them at the dispenser too, getting another gasoline tank for his flamethrower.

"Hmm mmmhm hmmph!" Axel greeted with a thumbs up. Terri nodded to him. "We'll probably be back, Engie. Gotta go. C'mon firecracker, there are people who need to be killed," she said. Axel whistled happily and followed Terri back out to the payload. RED had made a significant amount of progress, Scout and Heavy pushing the cart while the rest kept BLU too busy to push their own.

Spy materialized next to Terri, blood spattered across his suit. "Got him?" Terri asked, half hoping it was a no and at the same time hoping he had. Spy nodded. "Oui. He'll be back out in a minute though, Respawn never takes long."

Terri heard the smack of a bat against a ball, and shoved Axel aside, stumbling into his position. The baseball Scout had launched slammed into the side of her head, forcing her back. She was dizzy, disorientated from the force of the hit. Axel cried and turned his flamethrower to the Scout, his unseen orange eyes boring into the Scout.

"Hrmmm hmmh!" Axel raised his flamethrower in a taunt, angering the Scout to come closer. As soon as he got into range, Axel pulled the trigger of his flamethrower, the fiery flower blooming and engulfing Scout. Terri pulled out her Tribalman's Shiv, rearing her arm back with the knife. She was still having double vision, but she was clear enough to be able to hurl the knife and land it in the enemy's body.

Spy crouched down by her. "You okay?" he asked, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. Terri nodded, blinking and trying to clear her vision. Her mind was swimming, but slowly, her vision cleared up.

"Okay, okay I'm good. Come on," she said, drawing an arrow. As she passed the burning Scout's body, she stepped on it and yanked her knife back out, admiring the gleam of blood against the blade.

"The bomb has almost reached the final terminus!" Admin cried. Axel, Terri and Spy began to sprint towards the cart to assist it in the final push, reaching there just in time for Heavy, Medic, Sniper and Scout to have pushed it to the end.

"Victory," Admin hissed over the intercom. As the BLUs fled, the REDs charged into their base, gaining all the kills they could during Humiliation. Anything to prove to BLU they couldn't be defeated.

Terri had personally gone to find Horst, finding him hiding behind a crate. "Hey," she said, glancing behind her to make sure no teammates were around. Horst looked up. "Vell, surprise to see you here, Fräulein. Suppose you're going to kill me now?"

The archer shook her head. "Can't bring myself to. I'll see you later today, right?" she asked. Horst nodded, pushing the hair out of his face. Terri glanced over her shoulder again. "Okay, stay here. I'll make sure my teammates don't find you," she said, standing up. Horst watched as she ran off, pointing in the opposite direction. "Saw him run that way!" she shouted, luring her teammates away from him.

Horst smiled as he stayed in his hiding spot, leaning back. Terri was surely one odd girl, but he liked her for being odd. Now all he had to do was for Humiliation to be over before they returned to Teufort and he could get some extra sleep before meeting with the girl again.


	12. Do not melt it

**A/N. Hopefully last chapter's ridiculous action was enough to compensate from the previous previous chapter's mushiness!**

Despite the RED's win over the BLUs, Soldier had still gone back screaming at the team. "YOU CALL THAT A JUMP, CYCLOPS?!" he yelled. The rest of the team were walking ahead, and it had only garnered a response from Demo.

"Wot did ye call me? Ye know nothin' about jumpin', ya bloody eagle! Yer firecracker don't do shiet like me sticky jumper!" Demo shouted back. At the mention of fire, Pyro joined in the argument with his fair share of unintelligible mumbling.

Terri rolled her eyes and stumbled ahead with Sniper, leaving the three of them behind to argue their day away. "Is this normal?" Terri asked, taking off her shades to wipe at the lens. Sniper glanced back at them, their yelling getting softer as they walked further from the trio. "Mm… Oi've seen worse, shiela." Terri tilted her head over her should to look back at them, standing there and doing absolutely nothing but yelling.

"How long are they gonna stand there?" His younger cousin asked, as he voices faded behind them. Sniper shrugged. "Dunno. Oi'm never round long enough ta see. It's funny for a minute, then it get boring. Then Oi'm outta there." He gave his cousin a quick hug before turning and disappearing out to his van.

As soon as he was gone, the air next to her shimmered and misted up, and in the cloud of smoke formed, Spy materialized. "Whoa… what ya want, Spy?" Terri asked, hand on the doorknob of her room door. Dammit, if he followed her then she wouldn't be able to go out to see Horst.

"Nothing," Spy said simply, leaning against the doorframe. Terri shied away, just a little. "Okay… then uh… bye." She slinked in her room and closed the door, and heard footsteps fade. She sighed, turning to stare out of the window.

The sun wasn't high up yet. Deciding it was a bit too early to see Horst, she threw herself on her bed, closing her eyes. A little extra sleep wouldn't hurt after having being woken up at five in the morning.

It was late afternoon when Terri woke up, sleepy eyed but refreshed, even if just a little. The sun was starting to dip, the sky turning the slightest shade of sunset pink. Now would be a good time to leave, since the team would be minding their own business with it too early for dinner and way past lunch.

Creaking open her room door, the girl peeked out. No one was around the halls or on the chairs outside. He could hear the faint voice of Sniper on the phone with his father, arguing over how he wasn't a crazed gunman and more of an assassin.

Grabbing her knife, she left the room, swinging the knife casually as she headed down the hall, leaving Sniper to argue with his father. Being distracted, the sharpshooter didn't quite care to look at her, much less ask her where she was going. Terri felt a bit more at ease as she left the building and stepped out onto the bridge, her shoes clacking against the worn wood flooring.

Much to her surprise, she found Horst sitting by the bridge, eyes directed up at the slowly pinking sky, not blinking, not turning to look at her. Slowly, she wandered up to him. "Hey Horst," she greeted. His head snapped to her, a quick, swift movement that made her flinch.

Terri had no idea what happened next. Horst grinned devilishly, then lashed out at her, grabbing her by the throat and flinging her to the floor. "What th-" He crouched by her and with two strong fingers, slammed the back of her neck. Instantly her vision blurred, and as her eyes sunk shut, she saw Horst fade in a cloud of smoke and be replaced by a striking blue suit, strolling away.

Horst had just been going out to see if Terri was on the bridge waiting for him when Spy strolled back in, cigarette between his lips and a face that read "I've done what I needed. I'm outta here". As soon as Spy passed him, he hastened his pace, slowing as he stepped out of the fort and saw the Huntress sprawled out on the floor.

Frowning, he approached her and flipped her over, two fingers lightly touching her neck. Her pulse was there and strong, and since he couldn't leave her there or send her back to Respawn with a bullet to the face since RED would know something was up if she suddenly respawned, he picked her up and hauled her over his shoulder, taking her knife along too.

Scout hissed at Horst reentered the base with Terri over his shoulder. "Whoa whoa, why'd ya bring _that _back here?" he snarled, getting up and swinging his bat already. Knowing he couldn't use a lot of excuses he could have come up with, he simply snorted. "Zhat," he growled, "is none of your business. Vhat I do is none of your concern, Herr Scout." And just like that, he disappeared into his infirmary before Scout could ask more questions.

He locked the doors to his infirmary and set Terri on the bed. Deciding there was nothing he could do, he simply sat back at his desk with Schnaps in his lap and let her wake up in her own time.

Around late evening and Terri slowly woke, blurry-eyed and disorientated. "Wha…? Horst?" she mumbled, trying to focus her eyes on the blurry figures. Horst had been playing with Schnaps, dangling a string for her to paw and catch, and hearing his name, he twirled the string loosely around Schnaps to let her entertain herself and got up.

"Ah good, you are avake. I vas starting to zhink ve vere never going to get anyzhing done tonight," he chuckled, helping her sit up. "Whoa… how'd I get here?" she asked, glancing around the infirmary. "I'm not exactly sure vhat happened, but I zhink you had a fight vith Spy. I found you out on zhe bridge and dragged you back here," he said, offering Terri a cup of water. She gladly took the cup and sipped from it slowly, letting the headache slowly fade. Horst pulled up a chair. "Now, I don't know if your powers vork zhe same vay as mine, but I suppose for starters ve could try to at least get a grip on zhem." He dropped a small scrap of metal in her hand. "Try tell yourself not to melt zhat vhile holding it."

Closing her eyes and setting the cup of water aside, she closed her fist around the scrap. _Do not melt it. Do NOT melt it. DO NOT MELT IT. DO. NOT. MELT. IT._ She kept screaming at herself in her head, only opening her eyes when Horst lightly touched her arm. "Zhat's enough. At least it didn't corrode all zhe way," he commented, opening her palm. A small bit of metal was left, the rest turned to dust.

"Vell, I guess zhat's a start."


	13. Troublemaker

**A/N. Huzzah! Terri and Horst are making progress! I didn't put the disclaimer last chapter, did I?**

**Horst and Schnaps are by Derwen on Deviantart (who is so awesome that I bought her a premium membership for a year on DeviantArt as an early Christmas present)**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe (who is so awesome I bought keys from them)**

**Terri belongs to me (who is so awesome I'm rewarding myself with nutella.)**

The two of them had worked till midnight, when Terri passed out from using her powers a bit too much. Horst sighed, resting his head on his desk. "Vell, now she gets vhat I mean by 'side effects'," he sighed, not yet realizing her team was probably missing her.

He had kept the doors to his infirmary locked all night, not even letting Heavy in. When the Russian had asked why out of concern, Horst had used the excuse of needing to concentrate on his paperwork. Well, it wasn't a complete lie. He did have plenty of paperwork to do but he honestly couldn't be quite bothered to continue on then.

Schnaps joined him up on the table, purring and pushing her head up against his hair. Lazily, Horst lifted a hand to stroke Schnaps, the ginger cat's purring getting louder. From outside, Heavy knocked. "Has doktor fallen asleep?" he called. Horst let his eyes settle on the door. "Nein. Don't vorry about me, Herr Heavy," he replied, not bothering to hide the exhaustion in his voice. Heavy paused outside, then, "Okay. Good night doktor."

Horst sat up, elbows resting on the table. He scanned the room, sweeping his cool blue gaze over the girl who had rolled over to sleep. She had tucked her legs close to her chest, one hand close to her chest, the other dangling off the table. Sighing, Horst pulled out a pen from the pencil holder on the table and a single sheet of paperwork from the entire stack, beginning to fill it out.

Halfway through his third sheet, he leaned back as Terri sat up, rubbing her left eye with a hand. "Mm… what time is it?" she mumbled, still half asleep. Her sapphire eyes rested on him, curious and sleepy. Horst glanced at the small digital clock on his desk. "2.34," he said. Terri stretched and lay back down. "I don't wanna get up- shit."

The Huntress was suddenly awake as she leapt up. "Shit Horst, I gotta go back. I swear they're hunting for me," she hissed, grabbing her bow and knife off the floor and tucking it in its sheath. Horst opened the window for her again, unraveling the rope that she always used to get out. "See ya tomorrow," she whispered, before she slid out of the window and ran back across the bridge, disappearing into her own base.

If only she knew about the invisible presence that had seen her flee into the building.

As soon as Terri got back to her room, she shut the door silently and tossed her weapons to one side, slipping on the black shirt with red scrawlings that she always wore to sleep. She leapt back as a cloud of smoke formed at her closed door, Spy coming into view. His black hood was pushed back, and he didn't look very happy.

"Spy," Terri breathed, sinking into her bed. Spy eyed her, making Terri uncomfortable. "Where were you, petit?" he asked. Instantly Terri became very rigid, her eyes becoming guarded and her whole body stiff. "Just for a walk," she said. Clearly Spy didn't buy it. "Don't lie to me," he said. Terri snorted. "I ain't lyin', Spy. I wanna sleep," she hissed, rolling over to face the wall. Spy knew he couldn't dig the truth out, so he decided to leave it at that.

"Okay," Spy said, hand on the doorknob. He stepped outside. "Good night, mon cher." Terri sighed. "Night Spy." As soon as the door shut, she relaxed. That had possibly been the most difficult conversation she had here so far. She was going to have to be on her guard, now that Spy was watching where she went.

With morning came Scout, again dragging them out from their rooms with a good knock on their doors with a bat. Terri was up earlier, having been unable to sleep. She sat at the table, mug of coffee in hand. All night (or whatever little bit of a night she had) her mind had been reeling, wondering how Spy had known she was going somewhere. He could know where she was, that she had been with an enemy. If he knew… she was screwed.

Thankfully it was Sunday, so it was an off day for the mercenaries. Terri rested her head on the table, feeling awfully tired. Sniper joined her at the table. "Ya okay Shelia?" He asked, resting a hand over her shoulders. She glanced up at him without lifting up her head, grunting and burying her head in her hands. Sniper didn't say anything, letting her fall asleep at the table as the team came out for breakfast.

Pyro nudged Terri, rousing her from her sleep. "Hmm hmmhkhh?" he asked, leaning down to look at her. "Huh what? I'm okay, Firecracker, why?" she mumbled, lifting her head up. The team had gone already, leaving Terri there with the arsonist. He nudged a bowl of cereal closer to her, prompting her to eat something. Only after she saw the bowl did she realize she was starving. With a hand she pulled the bowl closer to her as the Pyro sat across her at the table, glass eye sockets wandering aimlessly around the room.

Terri ate, although it was slowly and she was rather moody. "Yhh whnnhh shh Mdhhkhk?" Pyro asked, noticing her odd behaviour. Terri looked up. _Yeah sure. Just not our Medic, _she told herself, shaking her head to Pyro. "No, it's okay Pyrocracker," she sighed, picking at her food again. Then, without even knowing she was speaking, "You wanna follow me later?"

Pyro sat back, tilting his head curiously at her. "Ghh whhrr?" Shit. What the hell had she been saying? Could she trust him to come with her? "Uh… you'll see soon," she said, deciding maybe the arsonist could assist Horst in helping her. Pyro thought about it, then nodded. Hopefully Pyro wouldn't get the wrong idea and burn everything in sight later on. She sighed, putting her head in her hands and finishing up the cereal. Pyro took the bowl from her and left it in the dishwasher along with the spoon and pat her shoulder, before leaving the room to go wherever it is he went. Terri stared after him for a minute, then dragged herself out onto the bridge.

She stood in the middle of the bridge, staring up at the Infirmary on the opposite end of the RED's fort for a minute, then sitting down by the bridge, she began to carve into the wood of the walkway. She was just carving the wing of a bird when suddenly hot pain slashed into her back, stunning her for a second. Her hand reached back, touching her back. It came back red and shiny with fresh blood. Whipping around, she swung her arm out and smashed it into her attacker's face.

Of course. The BLU Spy again. Did he have something against her? Taking advantage of the Spy's momentary distraction, she drew her knife, pushing the pain in her back aside, turning it into aggression against the Spy. He grinned, then leapt at her, shoving her to the floor. Her head snapped back, hitting the floor. The Spy stepped up to her menacingly, revolver in hand and the barrel pointed straight at her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the gunshot, when from behind, flames engulfed the Spy, sending him screaming to the ground. She shoved the burning body off her and sat up, coming eye-to-eye with Pyro.

"Yhh hhkhay?" Pyro asked, helping her stand up. Terri glanced back at Horst's window, the pain shooting through her again. "Yeah," she panted. "Yeah, I'm fine. C'mon, let's go where I was supposed to go," she said, tossing a pebble at Horst's window again.

The window swung open, the rope dangling out again. Bracing herself for the pain, Terri grabbed onto the rope and climbed up, Pyro following warily. She collapsed in Horst's office, blood staining the back of her shirt. "Ach… vhat happene-" He was just helping her up when he saw the RED pointing his flamethrower at him.

"No Pyro! Don't!" Terri hissed, leaning heavily on one side. "He's… shit how do I say this," she snarled. Pyro glanced at her, then at Horst cautiously, then slowly, he lowered his flamethrower. Horst's gaze swept from Terri to Pyro. "Fräulein, vhy did you bring him here? And vhat happened to you?" He asked, dragging her over to his table and making her sit. "Your bloody Spy happened, that's what," she hissed as he pushed up the back of her shirt to inspect the wound.

Spy. Of course it was him. That man was just out to make trouble for everyone. Horst sighed as he pulled down his Medigun and switched it on, still keeping one eye on the Pyro wandering around his infirmary and eyeing Schnaps with interest.

Terri buried her face in her hands. She didn't like having to sneak here every single day, but she knew it was for her own good and she bloody well needed all the help she could get.


	14. Metal Menace

**A/N. So I am taking longer than I would expect to post new chapters and updates but it's because I've got other crap to do and inspiration does run out. Yes, for all you people out there who think us writers have infinite inspiration and can write out 30 chapters in one night, news flash! Inspirations comes and goes. And I've had little of it recently.**

**Also, if you wanna play TF2 with me or add me on Steam, you're welcome to! It's Rexxy, the one with the black avatar with a small bit of yellow-gold. Don't get it wrong.**

**Also also, I'm gonna be tossing on Hats this chapter. Yes, HATS. That's because I just got my first Sniper hat (Anger) for myself and one for a friend (Cold Killer) so I'm gonna be throwing more hats into the story.**

**Horst and Schnaps belong to Derwen**

**TF2 belongs to VALVe**

**Terri belongs to me.**

**ENOUGH TALKING.**

Terri, Horst and Pyro had worked till evening. Well, actually Terri and Horst had worked while Pyro played with Schnaps most of the time, rolling the cat over and tossing the cat's toys for her. The girl had learnt fairly quickly, though she wasn't there yet. They were taking a break now, simply watching the firebug amuse himself with the cat. "So," Terri said, leaning back on her hands, "got any hats?"

Horst looked up from the paperwork on his desk. So much for break. "Uh- not zhat I vear zhem," he said. "Vhy?" Terri looked away. "Oh, nothing. Just curious, because I've never seen you wear a hat. No wait, you do have one. Team Captain, right?" she asked. Horst nodded. "Mm. zhat's probably zhe only one I vill vear. Do you have any?"

Terri ran through a list of all the hats she had in her room. "Well, I've got the Trophy Belt, Cold Killer and Holy Hunter though I don't wear any of them. They just don't appeal to me, y'know? Although there is this one hat I've had my eye on for awhile. I think it's called the Anger. Haven't gotten it from any drops yet or whatever," she sighed, resting her head in her palm. Just ahead of her, Pyro rolled Schnaps over for the hundredth time.

Horst didn't reply, just bending over to pick Schnaps up as the cat came running over to him, demanding for food with a loud meow and large, demanding eyes. Just as Horst got up to feed Schnaps, the doorknob of the double doors rattled. Instantly he looked back at Pyro and Terri, eyes wide with surprise.

Terri darted in the closet, Pyro curling up under the desk just as the door opened. In the doorway was Scout, no bat in hand. Good, because if things resorted down to a fight between Pyro and Terri against Scout, odds were looking pretty good. "Hey Doc," the runner greeted as he stepped inside. Horst acted like as if he was just feeding his cats, no visitors involved.

"Hello Herr Scout," Horst greeted, not looking up from the food bowl as Schnaps demanded loudly that he hurry up and move aside to let her eat. Scout wandered round the infirmary, hand massaging his neck, as if he was a bit lost on his reason for being there. "Can't sleep?" Horst asked, raising an eyebrow. Scout nodded, almost like he was embarrassed. "Yeah… was kinda hopin' you could help me out here Doc," he said.

Admittedly, his eyes look bloodshot and tired and his body didn't have that upright posture it usually did. Horst rolled his eyes, though he panicked a bit as he approached the cupboard Terri was hiding in. She could see the Bostonian approaching through the small slit between the doors. _Oh God no, don't come any closer, _she prayed, pressing herself as flat as she could.

Pyro peeked out from under the table as Scout went up to the cupboard, a bit curious and scared to know what was gonna happen. Horst looked around frantically, anything to get Scout away from the closet. If he found out then they were all screwed. His eyes swept over a bottle of sleeping pills on his desk. "Scout," the Medic called, picking up the bottle just as Scout's fingers touched the handle of the cupboard. "Hm?" He turned around, catching the small white bottle in his hands as Horst tossed it over to him. He popped a small capsule into his mouth, not bothering to down it with water. "Thanks Doc," he said, turning away from the closet. Terri sighed, relieved that she was safe. For now.

As soon as Scout was gone Horst locked both doors, Pyro sliding out from under the table and Terri tumbling out from the closet. "Jeez, doc, when's the last time you cleaned that cupboard out? Stinks like hell in there," she snorted, glaring at the open cupboard. Horst shrugged, settling into his chair. "Before ve launch into a conversation about your choice of hiding spaces and my sense of cleaning, ve should probably work on your power a bit more."

Terri sighed, nodding. As much as it exhausted her to practice and it very much bored her, she didn't exactly have a reason not to agree, and with Horst looking so expectantly at her, she knew no wasn't an option.

Around midnight Terri and Pyro had returned to the base, slipping in from the canals this time. The archer was sure to make sure no spies were in her room before tossing off her vest and sliding into bed. Right before it, she held the locket Spy had given her, before slipping it off and locking it in her drawer.

Terri was up early. A bit too early for her liking. 4.37 in the morning was no time for a mercenary to be up and about, but no matter how much she tossed and turned, she couldn't go back to sleep. Giving up, she got up, sneaking out of her room and down to the resupply.

"Why am I even here?" she muttered as she pulled open the shutter, just enough to let herself slip in, closing it gently. She turned around, gazing at the empty room, when something caught her eye. Sitting in her shelf was a box. A nice red box wrapped up with a yellow ribbon. Curious, she tiptoed and took the box down, resting it on her lap as she sat down on the bench and opened it.

A smiled played on her lips as she saw the contents. Inside the box was a red hood and a white feather with a small speck of red. She knew instantly who it was from as she slipped on the Anger, pulling the bandana up and the hood on.

"Can't sleep too?" Terri spun around on her heel, gaze coming to rest on Pyr- no, Axel. Pyro was only there with the mask on. Without it, he was a whole different person. In his hand was a note. He extended his hand to Terri, offering it to her. "Axel, what's this?" she asked, taking the note.

He stayed silent, letting her read it.

_TO: RED PYRO, HUNTRESS, DEMOMAN, SNIPER AND SPY_

_You are being chosen to fight alongside some BLUs against a metal menace in Mannhattan. This will not be an easy task, I hope your affairs are in order. Proceed to the teleporter placed on the bridge of Teufort upon reading this._

_-Administrator._


	15. IMPORTANT NOTE

**A/N. No, this is not a chapter. You know Chapter 14? Yeah. That's the last chapter of Radioactive.**

**-WHAT?!-**

**No, it doesn't mean I'm stopping the story. Derwen (who owns Horst and Schnaps) gave me the idea that I start the sequel (at a mid point) where things melt into Mann versus Machine. And I thought that was a pretty good idea, so I'm going ahead with it. So Radioactive stops at chapter 14, and will pick up again with its sequel, titled Botkiller. **

**-I'm sorry Rexxy but I don't get it. Why do this? Why not just continue Radioactive?-**

**Well, it's because firstly Radioactive was getting a bit slow and I think doing this will pick up the pace. Secondly, Radioactive isn't exactly following the storyline plot I wrote in my notebook (because Tale of Two Cities showed up) so I think it'll be better for the later happenings which are focused in on Mannhattan and Rottenburg to be put somewhere else.**

**Think of it as parts of a book. Radioactive is part one, Botkiller is part two. And when something else shows up, that'll probably be part three. **

**-I still don't understand, Rex. Continuing the chapters would be so simple!-**

**I have my reasons, shut up. **

**Also with a new book comes a new cover! (It's a secret.)**

**So I hope to see all of you who followed through Radioactive over to Botkiller which will be out soon! (Yes I started on it already.)**

**-WAIT! Will the plot and characters be the same?-**

**Yes, Horst and Axel and Terri will still be there. The plot is still **_**somewhat **_**the same, with tweaks because of the MvM update which I want to incorporate into the story line.**

**Also just saying, Mann Up is ridiculously hard.**

**-Rexxy**


End file.
